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HISTORY 

OF THE 

AMERICAN TROOPS, 

DURING 

THE LATE WAR, 

under the command of 
Colonels Fenton and Campbell, 

Givi7ig ail account of the crossing of the Lake from 
Erie to Long Point ; also, the crossing of Niagara 
by the troops tinder Gen Is Gaines, Braiuji, Scott 
and Porter. The talcing of Fort Erie, the battle of 
Chippewa, the imprisonvie7it of Col. Bull, Major 
Galloway, and the author {then a captaiii) and their 
treatment ; together with aji historical account of the 
Ca?tadas. 



By Samuel White, 

Of Adams County, Pcnn. 



(gafiimore : 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 

B. EDES, PRINTER. 
1830. 



r 



A E3GI 



Three Hundred Copies Reprinted for 

George P. Humphrey, 

Rochester, N. Y. 

1896 

No. /^^ 






CHARLES MANN, PRINTER, 
ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



PREFACE. 

In presenting the following pages to the public, 
the author begs leave to return his warmest thanks 
to those of his fellow-citizens who have so liberally 
come forward to aid him in his undertaking. A 
plain man himself, he has not attempted to em- 
bellish his narrative with high-flown language, nor 
to impose upon the credulous, a string of fictitious 
adventures, but has been content with offering them a 
plain statement of facts, and as such he hopes it will 
be acceptable to the American reader. 

It may be necessary to observe that in speaking of 
Encrlishmen, as the author has been forced to do, 
rather harshly in many places throughout this volume, 
he does not mean to insinuate that all of that nation 
are such as he has described ; he has had the pleas- 
ure of knowing many, who were an honor to their 
country, and to whose kindness and gentlemanly con- 
duct he feels happy in having an opportunity to tes- 
tify The contrast, also, which will necessarily be 
drawn between the conduct of the contending parties, 
resulting so eminently in favor of our own country- 
men will not be without its effect; as it will prove 
to those who at some future day may step forward in 
defence of their liberties, how much more of real and 
never fading glory is acquired, by the exercise of 
mercy and benevolence to the fallen foe, than even 



by the greatest valor and most distinguished general- 
ship, unaccompanied b)^ these attributes. 

In the compilation of the work, which has been 
done chiefly from his notes taken at the time, he 
has been careful to avoid errors ; some, nevertheless, 
owing to the disadvantages under which they were 
taken, may have occurred, and for these, should it 
prove to be so, he would bespeak indulgence. 



HISTORY 
OF THE LATE WAR. 

1 O repel the inroads of the British on the northern 
frontier, during the year 1814, the governor of the 
state of Pennsylvania ordered out the militia to the 
number of one thousand. About one half of this re- 
quisition was composed of volunteers from Cumber- 
land county, of the eleventh division, and two companies 
belonging to the same division from Franklin county, 
and the residue was drawn from the counties of Adams 
and York. The detachment of the troops to which I 
belonged, rendezvoused at Gettysburg, on the 28th of 
February, 18 14, and departed from that place on their 
march to Erie, on the tenth day of March following. 
On the morning of the following day, major Galloway 
and myself returned to Gettysburg to hold a court 
martial for the trial of delinquents, and after several 
days of arduous exertion, completed our business by 
the assessment of fines to the amount of upwards of 
foriy-thoitsand dollars. Hence I returned home, news 
having reached me that my wife lay dangerously ill of 
a fever, and remained there for a short time, when up- 
on her being pronounced convalescent, I hastened to 
join my companions in arms, and reached Erie, on the 
evening of the same day our troops arrived. We en- 
camped on the margin of the lake, near the fort and 



about a mile above the town, where we remained with- 
out any occurrence of note taking place until the four- 
teenth of May. 

About this time it was made known in camp that an 
expedition to Long Point was projected, and that volun- 
teers to the number of five hundred stepped forward to 
assist the regular forces amounting to about four hun- 
dred men. The expedition was commanded by Col. 
Campbell, and all preparations having been completed 
on the fifteenth, we commenced crossing the lake, and 
landed on the Canada shore, late on the evening of 
the sixteenth, A company of dragoons fired on the 
boats that left the vessel, previous to their reaching the 
shore, when they put spurs to their horses and imme- 
diately rode off. We halted in a piece of woods near 
the lake, exposed to the rain which poured upon us all 
that night and next day, having no shelter except the 
boughs of the trees, under which we rested. 

Early next morning, we crossed BufTaloe creek in a 
large canoe, which we were fortunate enough to find 
there; our troops were formed in single file, showing 
our whole force in front, with two small field pieces in 
the centre of the line, drawn by sailors and marines. 
In that order we marched for Dover, a very politic and 
ingenious mode of forming, and one well calculated to 
impress an enemy unacquainted with the number of 
our troops, with an idea of our having a very large 
army in the rear, this appearing only as the advance 
guard, A little way up the creek was situate a large 
store house, but it was completely emptied before 
we reached it, they having had information of our 
approach, some days before, as will be seen hereaf- 
ter. We continued our march without opposition, 
passing over a beautiful plain, covered with luxuri- 
ant fields of wheat. When we reached Dover, we 



7 

found it deserted by all but a few women, who had 
white clothes hanging upon broomsticks suing for peace. 
The only hostile demonstration on our part was, the 
destruction of some mills employed in manufacturing 
flour for the army, together with some houses occupi- 
ed as stores, and those belonging to some officers, who, 
it had been ascertained, had been on the expedition of 
the burning of Buifaloe and Black Rock some time pre- 
vious. Every possible respect was paid to the wo- 
men and children, and the best part of the furniture 
in the houses which were destroyed, was even carried 
out by the troops previous to their being set on fire. 
From what information we could derive from the women, 
we were led to believe that they had plenty of time'to have 
prepared for our reception, and might even, had they 
so chosen, prevented our landing, as they had news 
of our intended expedition ten days before. It appeared 
strange how such news should have reached them, as 
it was not currently known, even in our own camp, 
three days before we embarked, but the mystery was 
soon cleared up, when after we had been made prison- 
ers. Major Galloway and I recognized in Chippewa, 
in company with the British officers, a gentleman 
whom we had formerly seen at Erie in company with 
our quartermaster; he must have been a spy. We took 
one man prisoner, whom we carried with us in our re- 
treat. I sat with him until the last boat was ready to 
push ofi to the vessel, and then dismissed him, unhurt, 
and went on board. Strange as it may appear, it is not 
the less true, that on the very day after the British came 
to Dover, they burnt all the houses we had left standing, 
and even hung the poor old fellow whom we had had in 
custody. 

On our return, we had tempestuous weather, and 
were detained on the lake three days, making the con- 



tinuance of our^expedition five days in all. Before we 
had embarked on the expedition, my company had 
drawn rations for three days, every pound of which 
had been left on the shore in consequence of the bad- 
ness of its quality, so that the poor fellows had nothing 
but bread to eat for that time ; on the fourth day I pre- 
vailed upon the master of the vessel to let me have a 
barrel of biscuit, and one of pork for my company, 
which having been hoisted on deck, and the heads tak- 
en out, it was really amusing to see how soon they 
were emptied. In the evening we completed our land- 
ing, and arrived in safet)^ at our camp in Erie. 

Next day we learned that a general order had been 
given for our march to ButTaloe, and that preparations 
for that purpose had been commenced by Col. Fenton, 
when they were checked for some time by the presen- 
tation of a mutinous paper b}" some of the men select- 
ed for that purpose, which paper had been signed by 
half, if not more, of the privates in the regiment. This 
instrument set forth that they had determined not to 
march from camp, until they had received the amount 
of pay due them for their services, alleging as their 
apolog5^ that man)^ of them were much at a loss for shoes 
and other cloathing. In this situation, undecided as to 
what course we should pursue, we remained for seve- 
ral days, until at length some of the captains of com- 
panies, attached to the regiment, conceiving that some- 
thing more decisive ought to be attempted to compel 
the mutinous portion of the regiment to return to their 
dut)'-, addressed a communication to the Colonel, set- 
ting forth that they held themselves and companies in 
readiness to march at a minute's warning. After this 
a new impulse was given to preparations, and the order 
of march was fixed for the day following. 



But the spirit of mutiny was still alive, and secret 
resolutions were formed amongst the disafTected, to 
obey no orders until the terms for which they held out 
were complied with, and on the following day when 
according to the orders, at the third roll of the drum the 
tents should have fallen, a number remained standing, 
and those who were willing to obey orders, had to be 
detached for the purpose of pulling them down, which 
however, they were permitted to do, unmolested. 

While the wagons were lading, I had occasion to 
proceed to the centre of the regiment, having some 
business to transact with one of the field officers, and 
upon my return was waited on by Lieutenant Gardner, 
who informed me that during my absence a private 
from Capt. Roberts' company, had been amongst my 
men encouraging them to stand firm to their agreement, 
and oppose the march, and had moreover instructed 
them that the others had agreed to commence forming 
a line, which he urged them to imitate. This man 
was supposed to be their ringleader, and to have been 
appointed their commander. As the first step towards 
the suppression of this mutiny, I determined upon his 
arrest, hoping that prompt and decisive conduct in this 
instance would not be without its effect, in deterring the 
others from a continuance in the course which they 
adopted. Accordingly having ascertained from the 
Lieutenant that he could recognise him, I forthwith 
proceeded to the place where Roberts' company were 
stationed, and upon his being pointed out, immediately 
arrested him, and sent him to the block house, used as 
a guard house, and under the command of Major Mar- 
lin, a regular officer. Returning to my company I 
found that several of my men had already fallen into 
line, and that others were quickly following their ex- 
ample. To my demand of why they formed or by 



10 

whose orders, I was unable to obtain an answer, and 
ordered them to disperse under pain of immediate ar- 
rest, and await the regular orders, which after some 
little hesitation, I succeeded in accomplishing. 

The order was now passed to form line, and pre- 
pare to march ; the peaceable portion of the men imme- 
diately fell into rank, leaving a number strolling about, 
as if undecided what course to pursue. While in the 
act of walking round, enquiring from each individual 
his reasons for not obeying orders, and just as I had 
placed under arrest a couple who were conspicuous as 
spokesmen, and who had positively and most imperti- 
nently refused to comply, I was called to by one of my 
men, who bid me take care, as one of those in my rear 
was loading his gun to shoot me. I instantly wheeled 
round, sprang upon him, wrested the gun from him, 
and despatched him also to the guard house. The 
most determined being now removed, and the others 
left to their own discretion, aided no doubt, in the de- 
cision by Major Marlin, who, having loaded the gun 
in the block house with grape and cannister, commencd 
running them out of the port holes directed towards 
us ; the line was promptly formed, the order of march 
given, and the regiment moved ofl in perfect order. 
Another circumstance no doubt, contributed largely in 
restoring order, viz.: when Captain Roberts was inform- 
ed that I had placed one of his men under arrest, he 
immediately sent to Major Marlin, requesting his libe- 
ration. Major M. applied to me to know the nature 
of the offence, for which the prisoner had been com- 
mitted. Upon my informing him, that he had been 
sent there for mutinous conduct, his reply was^ " I will 
not release him even at the command of your Colonel, 
until he has first undergone trial for his offence." 



n 

This answer was soon rumored about, and perceiving 
that the business was assuming rather too serious an 
appearance, the disaffected were somewhat panic 
struck, and there is every reason to beHeve that it af- 
forded another and a strong inducement, for their re- 
turn to duty. 

We pursued our march that day over a road running 
parallel with the lake, and in some places, immediate- 
ly along the beach for a considerable distance, and 
found it very fatiguing, owing to the deepness of the 
sand. The country along the lake shore was gene- 
rally hilly, and seemed to be well supplied with game. 
We crossed two or three streams of water on our march, 
the principal of which was Cattaraugus creek, which 
we were compelled to cross in a boat. On the oppo- 
site side was situated a small village with two or three 
public houses. Here the soil appeared to be very good, 
as was the case as far as we could perceive, when- 
ever the road diverged from the margin of the lake. 
Near the village just mentioned was an Indian settle- 
ment, composed of the tribe called the Cattaraugus In- 
dians. After our encampment for the night, which we 
did upon the bank of the creek, we w^ere visited by a 
number of them and their squaws, who appeared very 
much pleased to see us, more particularly as they un- 
derstood we were going to fight the British. There 
seemed to be a great scarcity of men in that portion of 
New-York state, many, I presume, had been killed by the 
enemy, at the time of the burning of Buffaloe and 
Black Rock, as they had been called out en masse, pre- 
vious to that transaction. 

In many places along the road, the houses were lit- 
erally crammed with ladies, collected there to see us as 
we passed through the county, and here I would 
strongly recommend all who may be in want of hand- 



12 

some wives to visit the borders of lake Erie, for I have 
never seen, before or since, in any part of the county, 
more beautiful and elegant looking ladies. 

We at length reached Buffaloe without any disaster, 
except the loss of a few men by desertion, if indeed 
such an occurrence may justly be so termed, and found 
there quite a respectable body of regulars, consisting 
of two brigades. We encamped and remained there 
drilling our troops until the second of July, when gen- 
eral orders were issued for embarkation at day- 
light of the following morning. So unexpected was 
this order, and so completely had Gen. Brown conceal- 
ed his intentions, that his officers, not at all suspecting 
the meditated movement, had actually made prepara- 
tions for the celebration in camp of the Fourth of July, 
and had engaged his compan}'' at dinner. The imme- 
diate consequences, as will be seen, of such good poli- 
cy on the part of the General, was the capture by sur- 
prise of Fort Erie on the third, without bloodshed. To 
return to our narrative ; the army consisting of two 
brigades, were landed on the opposite shore without 
the least opposition. The first brigade under the com- 
mand of Gen. Scott, and the artillery corps command- 
ed by Major Hurdman, landed nearly a mile below 
whilst Gen. Ripley with the second brigade made the 
shore about the same distance above. Thus the fort 
was soon completely invested. A battery of long 
eighteens was immediatel}^ planted in a position which 
commanded it, and a flag dispatched, demanding a sur- 
render, and granting two hours for that purpose, at the 
expiration of which time, the garrison consisting of 137 
men, including oflicers, marched out and surrendered 
themselves prisoners of war. Several pieces of ord- 
nance and some military stores were found in the fort. 



13 

Having reduced Fort Erie, the General immediate- 
ly proclaimed martial law. His proclamation set forth, 
that persons demeaning themselves peaceably, and at- 
tending to their private business should meet with no 
interruption, whilst those found in arms should be treat- 
ed as enemies. Private property, he pledged himself, 
should be held inviolate, but public property should be 
seized wherever found, and sold by the commanding 
General. Plundering was strictly prohibited— from 
the regular army the Major General had no fears, and 
those honorable men who had pressed forward to the 
standard of their country, to avenge her wrongs and gain 
a name in arms, would scorn to be guilty of any act, 
which might, in even so remote a manner reflect dis- 
grace upon their national character. 

The necessary arrangements for the preservation 
and garrisoning the Fort Erie, being concluded. Gen. 
Brown determined to march forward on the following 
day, and attack the enemy who lay entrenched in his 
works upon the plains of Chippewa. To this resolution, 
considered of a desperate and dangerous character, 
the General was doubtless urged by the necessity which 
he felt existed, to redeem the reputation which had 
been lost by the events of former campaigns— dangers 
and remonstrances were therefore entirely disregarded. 
The ardor and desire for battle was even increased 
by the knowledge that the glory of the victory would 
be so much the more brilliant, besides having formed 
his resolutions and plans, he was determined upon at- 
tempting their execution. 

Before day-break on the morning of the fifth, it was 
ascertained, that the Colonel to whom orders had been 
sent by Gen. Porter to supply the troops with three 
days' provisions, had neglected that necessary precau- 
tion ; the consequence was, that a boat had to be des- 



14 

patched to Buflfaloe with an order for provisions, which 
however, did not reach us until about two o'clock in the 
day, when we were supplied with a couple of biscuits 
each, being the first which a majority of us had eaten that 
da3^ At four o'clock we came in view of the encamp- I 
ment of our regular troops, and halted. We had not 
been many minutes at rest before a requisition was 
made for volunteers to turn out and drive off the hostile 
Indians who had been firing on our pickets. Fatigued 
as we were, having traveled that day about eighteen 
miles without rations, it is not to be wondered at, that 
not much alacrity was showed by the men to become 
of the party. Lieut. Gilleland, Ensign Graff, the sur- 
geon of the volunteers, and myself, laid aside our 
swords, and borrowing rifles, volunteered as privates ; 
about three hundred of the volunteers of our own 
regiment also came forward, and these were strength- 
ened by several hundred Indians, the whole under 
the command of Gen. Porter, Col. Bull and Major 
Galloway. I had eaten nothing except one biscuit 
from the time I had ni}^ dinner the da}^ before at Buflfa- 
loe, and had even given away the balance of ni)^ store, 
expecting to get a good supper that evening; but I was 
doomed to be mistaken. 

Orders were issued that every white man who went 
out under Gen. Porter should leave his hat, and go un- 
covered. The Indians tied up their heads with pieces of 
white muslin, and it was really diverting to see them 
making their preparations for battle. After having tied 
up their heads, which process must have consumed at 
least fifty yards of fine muslin, they painted their faces, 
makinff red streaks above their eves and foreheads — 
they then went to old logs and burnt stumps, and spit- 
ting upon their hands rubbed them upon the burnt part, 
until they were perfectly black, when they drew their 



15 

finders down their cheeks leaving large black streaks — 
after this preparation they were ready for action or 
march. We proceeded in single file through a lane 
to our left, and in the course of half an hour came in 
contact with the enemy, who were posted in the woods 
on our right, and completely concealed from our obser- 
vation. Immediately upon our entering a long narrow 
path, they opened upon us with a pretty brisk fire — 
we faced to the right and pressing forward put them to 
rout. They continued their flight and we pursued 
them, keeping up a smart fire, which, from the man- 
ner of the position, did considerable damage, un- 
til they drew us into rather a perilous situation. The 
whole British army had crossed the bridge at Chippe- 
wa, and drawn up their forces under cover of a piece 
of woods, near the Niagara river, and running parallel 
with the Chippewa creek, directly across the creek, 
where the British batteries commanded the same po- 
sition. Driving the Indians rapidly through the woods, 
we at length came in full contact with the British reg- 
ular line, which in conjunction with the batteries, 
opened a most tremendous fire. From the clouds of 
dust and heavy firing. General Brown concluded 
that the entire force of the British was in motion, and 
gave orders to General Scott to advance with his 
brigade and Towson's artillery, and meet the enemy on 
the plain in front of the American camp. In a few 
minutes Scott was in close action with a far superior 
force of regulars. Major Jessup commanding the bat- 
tallion on the left flank, finding himself pressed both in 
front and rear, and his men falling fast, ordered his bat- 
tallion to support arms and advance, which bold order 
in the midst of the enemy's hottest fire, was obeyed 
with a promptness which did them honour. Having 
advanced within twenty paces of the enemy's line, 



i6 

they were ordered to level and fire, causing such 
havoc in the enemy's line as forced them to re- 
treat. About this time, also one of our hot shot fell 
into the enemy's magazine and blew it up — this occur- 
rence silenced their artillery — the whole British force 
fell back, and being closely pressed by the Ameri- 
can troops, retreated in confusion to their entrench- 
ment, about a quarter of a mile distant. Gen. Brown 
immediately ordered the ordinance to be brought up with 
the intention of forcing the works, but upon more ma- 
ture reflection, and by the advice of his officers, he 
was induced to order the forces back to camp. In this 
engagement, which resulted so disastrously to the Brit- 
ish, a considerable portion of the army, though burn- 
ing for the conflict, had not an opportunity of coming 
into action. The conquerors of the veterans of France, 
were, in fact, defeated by a detachment from the 
American army. The only troops engaged on the 
part of Gen. Brown, were Scott's brigade, and the Penn- 
sylvania volunteers, commanded by Porter — the con- 
duct of these men was heroic in the extreme; wherever 
they directed their fire, or pointed their bayonets, the 
boasted " conquerors of the peninsula " fell or fled ; the 
volunteers, in particular manifested all the coolness 
and bravery of regular troops. Such was the punish- 
ment they received in this engagement, that, although 
battle was offered them again on their own terms, they 
shrunk from its acceptance. 

The loss of the enemy was nearl}^ six hundred kill- 
ed, as was ascertained some time afterwards, although 
they were never willing to acknowledge it so great; 
they removed, however, off the field, nearly five hun- 
dred wounded men before their retreat, and the loss in 
the woods of the Canadian militia, by our scouting 
party, was upwards of eighty killed. It was not known 



17 

how many Indians fell, but their loss must have been 
very great. When our scouting party returned, there 
were but twenty men missing, five of that number 
were prisoners, four whites and one Indian. 

I was nearly on the extreme right of our line, which 
was very much extended in our progress through the 
woods, in consequence of broken trees, thickets, &c., 
and did not immediately hear the order for retreat, 
consequently, was slow in following the example of 
several of those in my rear, whom I perceived retreat- 
ing; and it was not until my left had been entirely de- 
serted, and those on my right were rapidly falling away, 
that I made my v/ay with some others to a field which 
lay on our right. On coming to the fence, we per- 
ceived the British light horse advancing along the op- 
posite side of the field in full speed; we immediately 
perceived that our chance of escape in that direction 
was small, as we would be taken long before we should 
have crossed. We then shifted our course, keeping 
under cover of the wood, until we had reached the 
end of the field, where we fell in with Col. Bull and 
Major Galloway, who had been more on the left. We 
were now on the very ground, over which, a short 
time before, we had driven the Canadians and Indians, 
and concluded ourselves in perfect safety ; but we had 
not proceeded more than a few rods, when we sudden- 
ly found ourselves surrounded by Indians who had 
been lymg in ambush — unable to surround us all, they 
had permitted a number of friendly Indians, and seve- 
ral of our volunteers to pass by unmolested, that they 
might the better secure us. After having disposed of us. 
a small party of them pursued those whom they had suf- 
fered to pass, several of whom, however, made good 
their retreat. 



i8 

Having disarmed us, the first enquiry was for money. 
A large Indian came up to me, calling out " money, 
money." — I insisted that I had none. He then seized 
my coat, which he took off me, another claimed my 
vest, another my neck-cloth, and so on, until they had 
stripped me of every article of cloathing, except my 
shirt and pantaloons. It was fortunate for me my 
shirt was not ruffled, or they would have taken even 
that; they took from me a ruffled sham, which I wore 
over my shirt ; a fellow had placed his hand upon my 
watch chain, with a view of drawing it from m\^ pock- 
et, but meeting with some little difficulty in conse- 
quence of my pocket being damp from perspiration, he 
deliberately drew his knife, when not wishing to give 
the gentleman the trouble of operating, I drew it out 
and handed it to him. 

At the time these savages were stripping me, others 
were as busily engaged in dealing out in like manner to 
Col. Bull and Major Galloway — the)^ took the Major's 
boots, compelling him to walk bare-footed. We pro- 
ceeded on our march, well guarded, and had not gone 
more than about half a mile, when an Indian in the 
rear suddenly whooped loudly, raised his rifle, and shot 
Col. Bull through the body; the ball entered at the left 
shoulder, and passed out through the right breast. 
After he had been shot, he raised himself upon his el- 
bow, and reached out his hand to Major Galloway 
asking him for assistance. At this moment the fellow 
who had fired came up, sunk his tomahawk in his 
head, scalped him, and left his body where he fell ; 
thus perished as gallant, and noble hearted a fellow, as 
ever drew the sword in defence of his country. I was 
then unable to account for an act so contrary to all 
laws of warfare, and expected every moment that we 
should have shared the fate of our unfortunate friend. 



19 

I was afterwards informed by a Canadian gentleman, 
with whom I had formed an acquaintance while at 
Ives' Creek, that the murder was committed in com- 
pliance with the order of Gen. Rial, who had given 
the Indians positive instructions not to spare any who 
wore the uniform of militia officers, he at the same 
time gave them a minute description of the dress of the 
militia and regular officers, the latter of whom, should 
any be captured, they were ordered to bring into camp 
in safety. Now if Gen. Rial gave such orders, and 
that he did, I have good reason to believe, how very 
degrading to a civilized people is such conduct, how 
barbarous, worse, infinitely worse than the cruelty of 
the untutored savage.^ Startled by the whoop, I had 
just looked over my shoulder, and was struck motion- 
less, petrified, by the sight ; but my conductors did not 
allow me much time for contemplation, but hurried me 
forward at even a more rapid rate. 

That we were not murdered as we expected, was 
owing to our being dressed in the uniform of the regu- 
lar troops, with which we had provided ourselves be- 
fore our departure from Gettysburg — the unfortunate 
Colonel was dressed in the old uniform of the Penn- 
sylvania militia, and met his disastrous fate in conse- 
quence of a trifling inattention — so frail and slender 
are the threads upon which human life and human 
prosperity are dependent. Col. Bull was a man of so- 
ber and exemplary habits, and highly esteemed by 
the soldiery — he was a pious man, and his mind had a 
strong religious cast. Whilst at Erie, the most part of 
his Sabbaths were spent in the hospitals, in reading 
conversing upon, and explaining the scriptures to the 
sick and disabled — but to return to our narrative, the 
savages who conducted me, were now hurrying me for- 
ward at a trot. Several times during our flight. 



20 

Major Galloway asked them whether they intended to 
kill him and Captain White, their answer was, they 
would not, but it will readily be believed, that after 
the dreadful sight we had just witnessed, we did not 
place much confidence in their assertions. Having 
cleared the woods, we now reached a green field, in 
running through which, the Indian who held me by 
the arm, and I, both trying for the furrow, jostled 
each other, and he fell, but still holding his grip, was 
instantly on his feet again. At that moment the hope 
of liberty flashed strongly over my mind, and had he 
been the only Indian with me, I would most certainly 
have dispatched him, or at least made the attempt; 
but a moment's reflection served to convince me that 
any efifort of that kind would be attended only with in- 
stant death, and under these considerations of the 
case, I concluded that my safest plan was to desist 
from so hazardous an exploit. Coming out of the 
grain field, near Chippewa Creek, we were in sight of 
the bridge, over which the last of the British arm)- 
then in view, had just crossed, the American cannon 
were playing briskly on the rear; the Indians who led 
me, for we had entirely outrun those who conducted 
Galloway, became alarmed, dreading that the whole 
army would have passed, and the bridge be destro)'"- 
ed, before they should be able to reach it, and ac- 
cordingly turned and ran up the creek for some dis- 
tance, the Indians who left Gallowaj^ now halloed to 
them, when they wheeled, and came in view of the rear 
guard of the British army, at the moment they were on 
the point of crossing the bridge. I was dreadfully fa- 
tigued, and to hurry me on, a fellow was placed 
behind me, who every minute or so, fixed his hands 
upon my shoulders, pushing me forward with a violence 
that well nigh threw me on my face. Faint and ex- 



21 

hausted, I still hurried forward, exerting all my nerve, 
fearing that if I failed or fell, the tomahawk, the sound 
of which still ran in my ears, would soon give me my 
quietus; I had hopes too, that the moment of my de- 
liverance from these wretches was not far distant, as 
I fully expected to be taken out of their hands as soon 
as we should have reached the British army. In this 
manner we gained the bridge just as the last of the 
rear guard had got on it, the American round shot still 
rolling after us; one of them fell within a yard of me 
as I pressed forward, making the clay fly all over us, 
and then bounded into the creek ; having completed 
our crossing, the bridge was cut down. 

What was my astonishment and indignation, when 
having come in company with those from whom I ex- 
pected relief to find them even worse than the savages, 
and that instead of respiting us, they encouraged them 
to run us still further, crying out who have you got 
there, a damned Yankee? — Yes — well damn him. run 
him well, he's not half run yet ; although I then thought 
it impossible for me to proceed twenty rods further 
without dropping down dead. Thus situated, my 
mouth stretched wide open panting for breath, I was 
compelled to run between one and two miles further, 
to the Indian encampment, still shoved forward as be- 
fore, whenever I slackened my pace ; my persecutors 
encouraged and cheered on by the brutal and unfeel- 
ing soldiery, who seemed to look upon the affair as 
mere amusement. 

We were sent to the rear of the camp, and here, for 
the first time, 1 was permitted to sit down ; in fact I was 
so weakened by previous fatigue, as to be unable to 
stand without support. Having recruited as much 
breath as enabled me to speak, I asked for a drink of 
water; they not understanding the language, I made a 



22 

sign for what I wanted, when I was led between two to 
a pond, where I was permitted to drink — those only who 
have felt the same pressing necessity, can form any idea 
of the luxury of that draught. They then led me back, 
and I again resumed my seat on the ground. A few 
minutes afterwards I was surrounded by thirty or forty 
of these savages, all armed, they brought down their 
guns at an order and commenced to talk — here I sat for 
some time perfectly silent, but at length looking up at 
the fellow who had had me in custody, I asked him if 
they were going to kill me. ^ He snatched up his rifle 
and raising it in both hands brought it down with vio- 
lence — he checked the fall, however, before it reached 
my head, and set it down as before, and casting at me 
a scowl of rage and hatred, resumed his place in the 
circle, from which the momentary act alluded to had 
moved him. It may be well presumed that I had no 
very great anxiety to ask more questions. 

Two or three Canadian officers now came up, one 
of whom appeared perfectly versed in the language; af- 
ter some conversation between him and the Indians, 
they opened the ring and admitted him to me ; he asked 
a number of questions, where I was from ? whether I 
was an officer or private.^ and whether I knew if there 
were any other officers made prisoners, and if so wheth- 
er I would not like to be with them .^ I informed him 
that Major Galloway was a prisoner, in the British 
camp, and that I should be much pleased to have his 
compan}^ — he commenced another talk with the Indians, 
and in a few minutes they began to disperse ; after the 
crowd had pretty well cleared away, two of them came 
to me and taking me by the arms, one at each side, 
walked me back to the British camp, where we found 
Major Galloway still sitting on the ground, with his In- 
dian guard beside him. We proceeded together and 



23 

were in a few minutes brought into the presence of 
General Rial, who immediately commenced interro- 
gating us, asking a number of questions, the truth of 
which I was determined he should not know from me. 
One of his questions as to what number of troops we 
had, was addressed to Major Galloway, who seeming 
to hesitate, I answered for him, saying that we had 
something like five thousand ; he replied that is not true 
sir, you know it is not, you have more than double that 
number. Had I then been acquainted with my privi- 
leges as a prisoner of war, I should not have made him 
an answer, as it was I excused myself, by telling him 
that I had computed them at that number from having 
seen them on parade, and had never heard from any 
official source, what was the actual number of men in 
service. He then enquired our grade, and whether 
we were in the regular service, or in the militia, upon 
our replying that we belonged to the Pennsylvania 
volunteers— he exclaimed what business had you to 
cross the frontier? We crossed, sir, in obedience to 
orders. Who could give such orders, sir, I thought no 
militiaman or volunteer could be ordered out of the 
United States? They can, sir, in case of insurrec- 
tion or invasion. Well, sir, have you an insurrection 
among you ? No, thank heaven, and I hope we never 
shall, but, sir, we have invasion. How is that, sir ? where ? 
I replied, have you not Fort Niagara in your posses- 
sion ? Then, sir, said he, why did you not go there? 
I answered, we were not ordered there. When I com- 
plained that we had been badly treated, having had 
our clothes stripped off us, that we had been robbed 
of money to the amount of about one thousand dollars^ 
and that all we requested was to have our clothes re- 
turned as we were not accustomed to going naked, he 
give us to understand that all the Indians got was legi- 



24 

timate spoil and could not be returned — he then called 
two sergeants, and gave one of them orders to take that 
fellow, meaning me, and keep him safe 'till to-morrow 
morning, when I shall demand him at your hand — to 
the other he gave similar directions concerning Gallo- 
way, and turning upon his heel with a smile, joined 
his officers who were seated outside of the door on 
benches round a table covered with glasses. I forgot 
to state, that when I had informed him of the murder 
of Col. Bull, and that he had been scalped b}^ the In- 
dians, his repl5Mvas — I do not believe he has been scalp- 
ed, assigning at the same time as his reason for not so 
believing, that at that time they gave nothing for scalps. 
We were now carried ofi by the sergeants and sepa- 
rated — we were compelled to be behind the breast- 
works, on the bare ground, without tent or covering of 
any kind. I suffered severely from the cold, in conse- 
quence of having been overheated during the day, and 
then stripped of my cloathing. In the night I took a 
chill, and shook as if I had had the ague ; I am confi- 
dent I should have perished but for the humanity of 
the sergeant, who had charge of me, in lending me his 
old watch coat, and a handkerchief to tie round my 
head; he also gave me a dram from his canteen — he, 
poor fellow, had been a prisoner amongst the Ameri- 
cans, and candidly acknowledged, that he had been 
well treated. In the morning he applied for rations 
for Gallowa}^ and myself, and returned without having 
been able to obtain any — this was continued for three 
days in succession, during which time we sustained 
life merely through the charity of our friendly guard. 
On the first morning after the battle, having heard 
that a flag of truce was about to be sent to the Ameri- 
can camp, asking the privilege of burying their dead, 
I enquired whether a letter would be carried for me, 



25 

and was told it would, but that it must be sent open. 
Being kindly furnished b}^ the sergeant with pen 
and paper, I wrote a note merely stating that we 
were prisoners, requesting that our clothes, and if 
possible, a little money might be sent to us, as we were 
suffering severely from want of them. Fearful that 
the letter might not be sent, if it contained any thing 
offensive, I forebore to mention either the death of Col. 
Bull, or our own treatment. On the return of the 
flag, I enquired if my letter had been delivered and 
what answer; the letter had been delivered but they 
had no answer whatever. I was also informed, that 
to their request to be allowed to bury the dead. Gen. 
Brown replied that he was able to bury all the men he 
could kill. 

On the afternoon of the third day I saw one of the 
British light horse coming down the Chippewa at full 
speed; he kept his horse under whip and spur, until 
he arrived at the officers' quarters, and in a few mi- 
nutes the camp was all bustle. The artillery horses 
were speedily driven under the whip up the Chip- 
pewa at a round pace ; the baggage v»^agons were load- 
ing in all quarters, and in a few minutes the artillery 
opened a brisk lire ; they had not fired many rounds be- 
fore I heard our long eighteens speaking in return. 
I I felt rejoiced at the sound, believing that they must be 
beaten should a general engagement ensue, and that 
in the interim I might have a fair chance of escape. 
However during the cannonade the British army was 
formed in line and led into the field, Major Galloway, 
two of our volunteers, one Indian, myself and three or 
lour Canadians who were in confinement, on suspicion 
of being friendly to the American cause, were led in- 
to the field under a strong guard and halted to await 
the fate of the day. The British artillery was soon §i* 



26 

lenced, the captain as I afterwards understood had 
been killed, several others severely wounded, and one 
of their cannon dismounted, by having the carriage 
wheels blown away. They now retired nearly as fast 
as they advanced, and by this time^the baggage wagons 
being loaded, were moved forward on the road to Fort 
George, and orders being giving to retreat, they set off 
at full trot, and some in a gallop, not delaying to pick 
up the camp kettles, which were dropping along the 
road, one here, one there, shaken from the wagons by 
the unusually rapid motion ; the army moved off at quick 
step, and we were marched in the rear, still surround- 
ed by our guard. In this manner we proceeded until 
we came to Lundy's Lane, where they were met by a 
reinforcement from Queenstown heighths ; they called 
a halt for a few minutes, during which the officers held 
a council, at the close of which the reinforcement was 
wheeled round and the retreat continued. When we 
reached Oueenstown heighths we were halted before 
a house, at which were a number of British officers; 
I was then brought in front, and viewed by some of 
them, who not being able to discover in me an old ac- 
quaintance, I was remanded to my former station. This 
examination was owing to information having been 
lodged by a fellow who had seen me the day after I had 
been made prisoner, that I had belonged to a certain 
British regiment, the name of which I do not remem- 
ber; that I had deserted and gone over to the United 
States, and had received my commission as a reward ; 
he had sworn most blasphemously to the truth of his 

assertions, and concluded with "d n you, I will have 

you hung "; I, however, heard no more of the business ; 
we were then marched forward on the road to Fort 
George, and after some time diverged to the right and 
proceeded nearly two miles to a large brick house, 



27 

where we were confined up stairs, having one guard 
at the room door, one at the head of the stairs and one 
at the outer door ; part of the army also had encamped 
round the house, around them was stationed a camp 
guard, and outside of all was stationed a picket guard, 
all to take care of four American prisoners, and one 
Indian. The rest of the troops continued their march 
to Fort George. Had any of us made our escape at 
that time, it would have been highly injurious to them, 
as their forces were much weakened by previous loss- 
es. I know that they had two vessels so completely 
crammed with wounded men, that the other prisoners 
and myself were obliged to remain on deck the whole 
time of the passage from Fort George to York, where 
we were landed. 

The wounded officers were carried to town in blan- 
kets by four men one at each corner. 

And here I should be committing an act of ingratitude, 
did I not notice the kind manner in which we were 
treated by a gentleman, named Carr, a doctor, who 
overtook us on our march from Chippewa to Fort 
George, and a short distance from the former place. 
In conversation with me he stated that he had two 
sons. Captains in the British array, that one of them 
had been for some time a prisoner amongst the Amer- 
icans, and that he had been well treated, that the other 
had been taken at the battle of Chippewa, and that 
this was the first time he had had it in his power to 
evince his gratitude to any of the American Officers ; 
he at the same time requested me to receive a twenty 
I dollar bill, and divide it with my companion Major Gal- 
loway ; in our circumstances it was a very acceptable 
present; we were still almost naked, and it was even- 
ing of the third day since the battle of Chippewa, and 
we had not as yet been supplied with rations, and were 



28 

obliged to march part of the afternoon nearly eleven 
miles. He returned in a few minutes afterwards with 
a five dollar bill, which he told us he had collected 
from some of the officers, and which he entreated me 
to divide among the other prisoners, or apply to their 
use by buying necessaries for them, which was accord- 
ingly done. We were several days at Fort George 
before the vessels were ready to sail for York. Late 
in the afternoon of the fourth day after we had been 
made prisoners, we were furnished with rations — we 
ate our beef as it came out of the pickle, as we could 
not think of waiting to cook it. 

While we remained there, an officer, who from his 
dress, appeared to belong to the dragoons, called to 
see the Major and myself, and in course of conversa- 
tion, asked us if we had any tea or sugar, or any li- 
quors ; he continued to converse sometime in a very 
agreeable manner, and then took his leave. A short 
time after he had gone, we had a visit trom his servant, 
who brought us a paper of tea, some sugar, and a bot- 
tle of rum. All the time we drew rations we were 
never allowed any liquor, and got none except the one 
bottle thus made a present of. This treatment was 
very different from what the\^ when made prisoners 
by us, experienced — if any part of the rations were 
scarce, our own men have stinted themselves in order 
that the prisoners might be supplied — this I know to j 
be a fact, as the men belonginor to my own company 
have gone without their liquor, that prisoners might be [ 
better accommodated. The evening after Galloway 
and 1 were made prisoners, and were almost perishing 
with cold and hunger, with the damp ground alone for 
our bed, and the canop)^ of heaven for our covering, 
the British oflicers made prisoners by our troops, were 
feasted with the best the camp could afford. The of- 



ft 



29 

ficers of my own company had killed a fat calf, in or- 
der to have something nice to give them for supper ; 
as they were strangers, they wished to entertain them 
well, and would have been happy to have had all the 
officers in the British army in the same situation, were 
it only to afford them a more ample field for the exer- 
cise of their generosity — but to return. We were 
marched into York, and halted for about half an hour 
at a tavern ; here we applied to the landlady, to know if 
she could provide us change of linen ; we had been then 
upwards of two weeks without change. She furnished 
us with two old shirts more than half worn for which, 
however, we had to pay her the uioderate price of eight 
dollars. 

We were then asked if we would accept of paroles 
to go to Montreal, stating at the same time that if we 
did, we should be furnished with money and horses, 
and if we did not, we would be sent on board a boat 
under guard. We concluded that it would be better 
for us to accept the terms offered, than to be dragged 
under guard through the country; however, we did not 
profit much by our compliance, for an hour had scarce- 
ly passed, after we had signed the parole, when we 
were ordered on board a Durham boat, to be sent un- 
der guard to Kingston. The British officers on board, 
when night came on, went ashore, and always took 
Galloway and myself with them, we lodged in a house 
convenient to the vessel ; the others prisoners were suf- 
fered to remain on board, under guard. 

We now found that we had acted unadvisedly in 
accepting of paroles, as we found several friends here 
who were anxious to secrete us until the British were 
gone, and then they promised us a safe landing on the 
American shore. These friendly and tempting oflfers, 
our inconsiderateness in signing paroles, completely 



'^ 



o 



prevented our accepting. Hence we were taken to the 
mouth of Ives' creek, about eighteen miles below 
York, where we put up for the night. For several 
days past, I had been very unwell, owing to fatigue 
and exposure to the damp night air, having lain out a 
few nights before. I was taken with a violent pain in 
my head, which lasted for nearly two hours, I then ob- 
tained a little rest, lay down in Lhe boat, and fell asleep 
when the crew went ashore; the officers also went off, 
leaving me under care of the guard. Having slept for 
some time, I awoke almost perished, and calling to the 
guard, who had lit a fire on shore, they threw me a 
plank, by means of which, I got out dry. Before I had 
well warmed myself, I was taken intolerably sick, so 
much so indeed, that I could not stand up — they fur- 
nished me with a blanket, and I lay down on the beach 
by the fire. When I woke in the morning, I was wet 
to the skin, the blanket having absorbed all the mois- 
ture from the sand. All that day I remained very ill, 
and upon reaching Mr. Ives', was compelled to go to 
bed. Next morning, notwithstanding my sickness, I 
was marched on board, but the wind being dead ahead, 
and blowing iresh, we could not sail, and consequently 
returned to the house. On the following day, my fe- 
ver had gained so much as to preclude all possibility of 
my being removed, in fact, I was completely deranged. 
In this state they made me sign a parole, and an article 
binding myself to be accountable for John Hughes» 
should he make his escape — this man was a private in 
my own company and had been made prisoner with me ; 
they had determined to leave him to wait on me. So 
unconscious was I, at the time I signed the paper, that I 
knew nothing of the circumstance, until after my recove- 
ry, when I was informed of the circumstance by Major 
Galloway. I remained in a very bad state for eight or 



i 



31 

ten days, entirely given up by the medical gentleman 
who had been appointed by government to attend me ; 
he had informed the family that they must expect my 
death, and so firmly were they convinced of it, that 
they actually prepared a shroud for me, and Mr. Ives 
was looking out a snug corner in one of his fields, in 
which to deposit me. 

Matters were in this train, when chance, or my bet- 
ter fortune brought an old Yankee Doctor, as they call- 
ed him, and who was Mr. Ives' family physician, on a 
visit to the house — having seen me, and examined the 
medicine which was administering to me, he pronoun- 
ced my case as desperate, but at the same time expres- 
sed an opinion that something might yet be done for 
me — he accordingly commenced operations by having 
all the remaining medicines prescribed by my former 
physician, thrown out, and ordered me a treatment di- 
rectly the reverse ; whether it was owing to this change 
of practice, or that the crisis of the disease had arrived, 
I am not sufficiently versed in medicine to pass opinion 
upon, but by twelve o'clock that night, I had changed 
so much for the better, as to have recovered my rea- 
son, and from that time forward my progress to perfect 
health was slow indeed, but sure. To the kindness of 
a gentleman, a doctor, who resided in the neighbour- 
hood, and who, during the first stages of my illness, had 
called once or twice to see me, and prescribed for me 
until such time as the government doctor commenced 
attendance, and to another, also a neighbour, and a 
namesake, a Mr. White, I take this opportunity of pay- 
ing the tribute of my best and warmest thanks, (the 
poor man's only guerdon) for their liberality in sup- 
plying me with clothing, acts as grateful to me, as they 
were honorable to them. When I had recovered suf- 
ficiently well to see company, I had many visitors 



32 

from several miles distance, who always came after 
dark, and returned the same night; they were very 
anxious to know what was the intention of the United 
States in sending troops into Canada, and if they had 
determined upon taking it — if such, they said, was our 
intention, a powerful party in Canada might be raised 
to assist in the undertaking, providing the United States 
government would give assurance of the fact; but that 
so much had they been deceived by Gen. Hull, that 
nothing could or would be done until such time as they 
had something satisfactory to rely upon. There were 
an immense number of men at that time disaffected 
with government, and had the United States deemed it 
expedient, or possessed the means of sending a large 
army into Ca?iada, with the avowed purpose of freeing 
them from British dominion, numbers would have 
flocked to our standard, and they might with reason 
have trembled for their possessions — but to return. 

About this time, a great sensation was caused by 
the landing, during the night, of a boat, about two 
miles below, with three or four well armed men on 
board, who, stationing themselves on the mail road, 
shot the horse of the mail rider, and carried off the 
mail, no doubt with a view to obtain news of the army, 
they also made prisoners, a colonel of militia, and his 
son, who was also an officer in the militia. They took 
them with the mail rider, to the beach of the lake, where 
having stove a parcel of flour lying there, they threw 
it into the water — they then compelled the prisoners 
to gather wood, and cook their victuals for them ; after 
which they were paroled, and the depredators went 
off unmolested. 

The next day I had a visit from Major Rogers, who 
seemed alarmed for my safet}^ and said that he had 
expected some of my friends had been to see me, and 



33 

had carried me off. I replied that I beheved there 
was not much danger of my escape, and that I should 
look well into whose hands I surrendered myself a 
prisoner again, as I had been one once too often al- 
ready. He said he would not trust me, and that as 
soon as my health was sufficiently established to allow 
of my removal, he would have me carried into the 
country, so as to be at a distance from the lake. 

A few daj^s afterwards he called again, in company 
with a physician, who having examined me, declared 
me unfit for removal — the visit was continued from 
time to time, until the doctor at last pronounced me 
sufficiently strong for removal. During my residence 
with Mr. Ives, himself and family treated me with the 
greatest hospitality — had I been a relative, they could 
not have exerted themselves more for my benefit — they 
have my highest esteem, and highly deserved recom- 
pense, which, had I the power, I would gladly make. 
I was now removed some miles back into the country, 
where I remained for ten or twelve days, and was then 
put on board a boat under the care of Lieutenant Nor- 
ris, a Canadian militia officer, who had orders from 
Major Rogers to take me to Kingston. Rogers was 
himself a militia officer, a devoted monarchist, and in 
consequence of his zeal, was then, though stationed at 
j home under full pay from his government, being kept 
there to have an eye to the inhabitants, and prevent 
them from making their escape to the United States. 
In many places along Lake Ontario, the inhabitants 
had deserted their homes and farms, and made their 
way good to the United States ; several were compelled 
to fly to save their lives, as a single word said against 
the government, at that time, was sufficient to hang 
them. Those who were brought prisoners from Fort 
George to York, at the time we were brought on there, 



34 

on suspicion of being friendly to the American cause, 
were, as I afterwards understood, hanged, and some 
even without judge, jury, or the common formahties of 
a trial. 

Arrived at Kingston, I was handed over to the com- 
manding officer of that post, together with a letter of 
recommendation from Major Rogers. As soon as he 
had read the letter, he ordered me into close confine- 
ment. This I expected, from having a knowledge of 
the contents of the letter, given me by an officer under 
promise of secrecy ; he at the same time promised me 
his influence in obtaining my release from confine- 
ment. The letter went on to state, " that I was not a 
commissioned officer of the United States, but had 
headed a party of depredators, who had come into Ca- 
nada for the sole purpose of plundering the inhabi- 
tants, and therefore to show me no favors." What 
could have been Major Rogers' inducement to pen. 
such a notoriously manifest falsehood, I cannot divine* 
unless for the mere gratification of his vile disposition, 
and the rancorous hatred he bore to every one who 
professed republican principles; at home he bore the 
name of a tyrant and was generally despised. 

I will relate a circumstance which will serve more 
fully to explain his character. — While recovering, and 
before I had been able to leave my room, he came to 
see me, and after strutting about for a considerable 
time, gav^e me to understand that the United States 
would shortly be compelled to surrender, as the British 
troops had taken their Capitol, Washington. Mr. Ives 
fearing the effect such information might have upon 
me in my then reduced state, endeavored to change 
the conversation by telling the Major how very bad I 
had been ; he interrupted him with the remark, — " Oh, 
that makes no difference, Washington being taken by 



35 

the British, the United States will of course become 
subject to them, and he, (meaning myself) may as 
well die now as at any other time, as that will be his 
fate at all events. I was irritated, and determined that 
he should not escape with impunity, I immediately re- 
plied that I did not believe one word of his informa- 
tion ; he retorted somewhat angrily that it was not only 
taken, but burnt, and added, even were it not, what 
chance had we to preserve our country, having a sea 
coast of nearly three thousand miles, without any for- 
tification ; the United States, I replied, have the power 
to fortify the whole line of coast; and to his enquiry, in 
what manner they could do it, I answered with men 
and bayonets. 1 had the pleasure to see him depart in 
no very enviable humor. 

Through the influence of Lieutenant Norris, I was 
liberated on the evening of the day I arrived at King- 
ston, in which place I remained but a few days, and 
then not having liberty to view the navy-yard, and in 
fact, not being suffered to leave the street in which I 
boarded, I had no opportunity of seeing any of the cu- 
riosities of the place. Between York and Kingston, 
although a distance of about two hundred miles, I do 
not recollect having seen one town, either situate on, 
or in view of the lake. 

I was now put on board a boat and ordered to Mon- 
treal. After we had got some distance below Kingston, 
perhaps seventy or eighty miles, near the seven Islands, 
we met a fleet of boats, one hundred and ten in num- 
ber, two of which were gun boats, the rest were laden 
with military stores, cash to pay the troops, and the 
timbers of a vessel built in England, even to the last 
pin, and ready to put together, to enable them to main- 
tain their superiority on lake Ontario. After the fleet 
had passed, I intimated to the officer who command- 



36 

ed the boat I was on board of, that I would be much 
gratified if he would run his boat on the other side of 
the St. Lawrence, which he could do with as much fa- 
cility as upon this — his reply was, I understand you, sir, 
but were the other side of the river equally near, you 
could not make your escape, as upon the first attempt, 
I would have you shot — I bantered him by telling him, 
that if he would agree to run his boat as near the Amer- 
ican shore as he then was to the British, I would exe- 
cute a bond for five hundred dollars, payable in ten 
days, in any house in Boston or New York, that he 
might mention, and he might fire all the guns on board 
after me, and kill me if he could ; but all would not do, 
neither bribe nor persuasion could induce him to alter 
his course. I well knew that the guns had lain in the 
boat until the powder was so damp that it would have 
been next to a miracle if one amongst them would go 
off. It was my fixed determination if I could have got 
near enough, to have made the shore, to have jumped 
overboard, and run all risks. Had I been then able to 
have effected my escape, I would have pressed a horse, 
and made the best of my way to Sackett's harbor, 
where I would have given information of the fleet of 
boats, as the whole of them might have been easily tak- 
en, and would have been a valuable prize. 

On proceeding a little further, we saw a drove of fat 
bullocks, consisting of one hundred head ; which I learn- 
ed, had been smuggled across, from the state of New- 
York, at the Seven Islands. The drovers were met 
that day by the British commissary, who paid them 
twent)'' dollars per hundred, for the beef cattle, all in 
gold. Upon their return down the river, the drovers 
put up for the night, at the same tavern where I lodged ; 
and, sometime after supper, I walked into the room 
where they were seated ; there were but two of them. 



37 

and had the gold spread on the table, in the act of di- 
viding it. I that night obtained information of their 
real names, for they had passed by fictitious ones ; and, 
also learned the name of the town, in which one of 
them resided, and made a memorandum of the whole, 
with a view to their apprehension, if I could make my 
escape. I had also viewed them so particularly, that I 
would have been able to recognize them any where ; but 
fortunately for them, I was detained in imprisonment 
until after the peace. 

The conditions of my parole having been broken by 
the enemy, by my imprisonment at Kingston, I, of 
course, no longer felt myself in honor bound to comply 
with them ; and had been for some time anxiously wait- 
ing an opportunity of effecting an escape. I had some 
thoughts of making the attempt that night, on board a 
large canoe, that lay a little way down the river from 
where we had landed, and preparatory to my going 
down to the boat, where my man Hughes, and another 
young man who belonged to the boat, and who had 
agreed to start with me if I got any chance of escape, 
were awaiting me, I took an opportunity to enter into 
conversation with one of the smugglers who was stand- 
ing by the door, and in the course of our talk enquired 
of him about the pass of the Seven Islands, and whe- 
ther the Indians who inhabited them, were friendly 
or hostile ; he gave me some little information and after 
a while turned into the house. I then went down to 
the boat and had just communicated my views to 
my friends, when I was called to from the house by 
Lieutenant Norris ; I immediately went up, after hav- 
ing told my men that I would be back as soon as I 
could get away, and that we should then put out — the 
night was very dark, and had we once got under weigh, 
it would have been a difficult matter to re-capture us. 



38 

Upon my reaching the house imagine my disappoint- 
ment when handed into a room by the Lieutenant, 
who locl<:ed the door as soon as we had entered, tell- 
ing me that he would keep me company, and pointing 
to a table upon which lay his sword and pistols, gave 
me to understand that he would kill me, if I made an 
attempt to escape ; he afterwards informed me that one 
of the smugglers had told him to take care of me, as I 
would leave him to-night, and that I had been asking 
about the passes of the Seven Islands. He then en- 
treated me not to make an}'' attempt to leave him, for 
if I made my escape it would ruin him, as Major Ro- 
gers had suspicions about his loyalty, and he believed 
that I was placed under his care, merely to tr}^ his fi- 
delity. He was a clever fellow, and he and his wife 
had treated me well, and I should have been sorry to 
have attempted any thing which would have involved 
him in difficulties. I therefore pledged my word that 
I would not attempt leaving him, and, for the pre- 
sent gave up my hopes of escape ; he however remained 
with me until morning, when we re-embarked, and 
proceeded on our voyage. Nothing occurred worth 

notice, until we came to what was called the , 

down which, though a distance of nine miles, we pass- 
ed in the short space of fifteen minutes. I saw some 
Canadians drawing up a boat, which appeared to be a 
very difficult undertaking — they had a long rope at- 
tached to the boat, one end of which was tugged at by 
twenty or thirty men — hence we proceeded to La 
Chine, a distance of nine miles from Montreal, where 
having landed, Lieutenant Norris conducted me to a 
tavern, and left me with instructions to remain there 
until his return. In the mean time I called for some- 
thing to drink, which I procured without difficulty. I 
then told the landlord that I would want something to 



39 

eat also, but I could not procure a mouthful. Upon 
the return of the Lieutenant, I reported my bad suc- 
cess, when he applied with no better fortune. We 
then proceeded together to all the public houses, and a 
good many of the private ones ; nothing was to be had. 
It was then nearly dark and raining, and we had had 
nothing to eat since morning. He then instructed us 
to proceed on the road to Montreal, until we could 
procure something, and accordingly John Hughes, 
two others who belonged to the boat, and myself put 
forward on the road. After having travelled about 
a mile, we came to a good looking stone house, and 
here I repeated my call for supper, and received for 
answer, as before, that I could not have any ; they could 
not give us what they had not themselves. The 
rain still continued, and the darkness had considerably 
increased ; however we dashed through the mud for 
something like another mile, when we reached ano- 
ther tavern ; here we received the same answer as be- 
fore, and as for lodging, they could not well accom- 
modate us, but we might he down on the bar-room floor, 
which was covered with mud; having no alternative we 
were obliged to accept the ofTer, and after awhile they 
procured us some apples and milk, for which they 
charged us a handsome price ; for our lodgings, how- 
ever, they charged us nothing. We set forward in the 
morning towards Montreal, and after travelling two or 
three miles, espied a snug little farm house at some dis- 
tance from the road ; the prospect looked cheering, and 
we immediately struck off in its direction. The farm- 
er himself, who proved to be a countryman of our own, 
met us at the door, invited us to walk in, and handed 
down a decanter of old whiskey, requesting us to help 
ourselves. When he heard how we had been treated 
the evening before, and that we had not breakfasted, 



40 

but would gladly do so with him, unless he should 
plead poverty as the rest had done ; he immediately re- 
plied that he would have something prepared for us, 
and in a few minutes we sat down to as good a break- 
fast as any man could wish for, and with stomachs well 
prepared for wreaking ample satisfaction, to atone for 
previous abstemiousness. Having finished breakfast, 
we called for the bill, but our hospitable entertainer 
absolutely refused to receive an)^ recompense, saying 
that he should be visited with worse times than the 
present, before he would receive payment for so tri- 
fling a service to a fellow countryman. 

Nothing deserving notice came under my observa- 
tion, until we arrived at Montreal, where as we passed 
along the streets, the citizens crowded their doors and 
pavements, and pointing to me, cried out, " there goes 

an American officer he's a d d pretty creature, 

isn't he?" I had then been a prisoner nearly three 
months and was without hat, coat or vest. It was ex- 
ceedingly mortif3'ing to me to be held up in my present 
situation as a specimen of American officers, after hav- 
ing been by themselves stripped almost to a state of nu- 
dity. I was exceedingly wrath, and had my power been 
then equal to my will, I would have taken ample ven- 
geance. 

From Kingston to Montreal, along the St. Lawrence, 
there are nine smart little villages, viz.: Prescott, 
Youngstown, Edwardsburg, Williamsburg, Osnaburg, 
Cromwell, Dulac, Cidris, Vaudril and La Chine. Some 
part of the country appeared to be fertile, and there 
were several handsome farm houses, whose exterior 
spoke loudl}^ for the comfort of their inhabitants. 

Montreal is the capital of an island of the same name, 
formerly called Villa Marie; it is the second place in 
Canada for strength, buildings and extent, and besides 



41 

the advantages of a better climate, for delightfulness of 
situation, is much preferable to Quebec. It stands on 
the side of a hill sloping to the south, with many agree- 
able villas upon it, which, with the island of St. Helen, 
and the river, which is about two miles broad, forms a 
most charming landscape. The city is not very broad 
from north to south, but covers a great deal of ground 
from east to west, and is nearly as populous as Quebec. 
The streets are regular, forming an oblong square, 
the houses well built, and the public edifices far ex- 
ceed those of Quebec in beauty and commodiousness ; 
the residence of the knights hospitalers, is extremely 
magnificent ; there are several gardens within the walls, 
particularly those of the Governor, the Sisters of the 
Congregation, the Nunnery Hospital, the Recollects, 
Jesuits Seminary, &c.; there are also many other gar- 
dens and plantations without the gates. The churches 
and religious houses are of the greatest neatness and 
simplicity. The city has seven gates, but its fortifica- 
tions are inconsiderable, being encompassed by a slight 
wall of masonry, sufficient only to prevent a surprise 
from the numerous tribes of Indians, with whom they 
are surrounded, and v»^ho used to resort in large bodies, 
to the annual fair, held here from June to the end of 
August. On the inside of the town, is a cavalier on 
an artificial eminence, with a parapet, and six or eight 
guns, called the citadel. The number of inhabitants, 
I was informed, amounted to about six thousand. The 
neighboring shores supply them with a vast variety of 
game in the different seasons, and the island abounds 
with soft springs, which form many pleasant rivulets. — • 
They drive a considerable trade in furs ; and the place 
is well calculated for commerce, as vessels of two hun- 
dred tons burthen can come directly up to the city. It 
stands one hundred and twenty miles south of Que- 



42 

bee, and one hundred and ten north of Albany. This 
island formerly belonged to the French, but was taken 
by generals Amherst and Murray, on the eighth ot Sep- 
tember, one thousand seven hundred and sixty. By 
the capitulation, all the French forces were sent to old 
France, and thus it became subject to the crown of 
Great-Britain ; it was afterwards confirmed to them by 
the peace of one thousand seven hundred and sixty- 
three. 

After I had been in Montreal a few days, I was giv- 
en to understand, that a number of American officers 
had been paroled home from this place, and made ap- 
plication to the provost major for a parole to go home ; 
he would apply to the governor, he said, and if I would 
call at his office in a day or two, he would inform me of 
the result. After repeated calls on my part, he en- 
quired upon what terms I expected to be paroled. I 
told him I would agree not to lift arms, until legally 
exchanged. He then asked me if I would agree not 
to lift arms during the war. ^ I replied that it was not 
fair to ask me to agree to such terms, and that at all 
events, 1 could not, nor would not accept of a parole, 
badly as I liked being a prisoner, upon any such terms. 
He then informed me that I would not be paroled on 
any other terms; and so finished the discussion. 

A short time afterwards, a chance of escape was of- 
fered me by a friend, who promised to procure me a 
pass, provided 1 would change my name, and enter 
with him as a boatman. When I reached the narrows, 
I could take a canoe and paddle across to the Ameri- 
can shore, as he was going up the river with liquor to 
the British army. This I declined, not liking the idea 
of changing my name ; and it was absolutely necessary 
for any one who attempted to travel in that country 
then, to have a pass, as to be found without one, sub- 



43 

jected the person to instant arrest, and of course I 
could not appl}^ for one in my own name, consequent- 
ly could not avail m)'-self of the opportunity. 

While killing time one day in a tavern at Montreal, 
a deserter from the American army came in, who had a 
great deal to say about the Americans. To the ques- 
tion of why he deserted, he replied that it was entirely 
in consequence of the bad treatment he received from 
his officers. We had some warm words, and I caution- 
ed him to be careful, now that winter was coming on, 
in case he could not get work to support himself, which 
it was more than probable would prove the case, not to 
turn his hand to stealing, as a comrade of his had been 
hanged but a few days before for an offence of the 
kind; and it was, I thought, a most excellent plan 
adopted by the British, to get rid of such rubbish, as no 
man can place confidence in. It may well be supposed 
that he did not wait to hear any more. 

About this time a man who resided a few miles from 
town came and told me that if I would give him one 
hundred dollars, he would deliver me safe in the United 
States, in the course of one night. Soon after, a 
gentleman, a resident of Montreal, told me, that if I 
would disguise myself by putting on a good suit of 
clothes, he would give me a seat in his calash, procure 
a pass for me, and carry me in part of a day to where I 
might conveniently cross in a canoe. Both these of- 
fers required money, and I postponed answering for a 
day or two, hoping that I might be able to raise the 
money by some exertion. Accordingly I enquired 
of m)'- landlord, he being an American, whether he 
could inform me of any means of procuring fifty or one 
hundred dollars on loan ; he recommended me to a mer- 
cantile house, which he told me, was immensely rich, 
and American; the name of the firm was " Ballas and 



44 

» 

Gaits," they had made a splendid fortune by smuggling 
business, carried on between them and some of the 
merchants of New-York and Boston, who exchanged 
flour, etc., for dry goods ; if I would apply to them, he 
thought there would be no doubt of my success. In 
pursuance, therefore, of this advice, I immediately wait- 
ed upon Mr. Gaits, and after stating my situation to him, 
told him I had been recommended to apply to his 
house for the loan of from fifty to one hundred dollars, 
and that I would pay the amount with any per centage 
he might demand, to any house in New-York or Boston, 
in ten days after I should have arrived in the United 
States. He then enquired if I had made my case 
known to the British officers, and upon my replying 
that they were wxll acquainted with all the circum- 
stances of my situation, remarked that if the gentlemen 
of the place were made acquainted with my wants, the 
sum would easily be raised. I told him that although 
reduced by misfortune to the disagreeable necessity of 
applying to a stranger, and I expected a gentleman, for 
a loan of money, I was not yet reduced to beggary, 
and left him. 

About this time Cornet Gillas was brought on, and 
left at the same house with me; he was a spirited, 
and had been a very stout young man, but was now 
much disabled, by rheumatic pains, which I believe he 
never got entirely rid of. Having been irritated while 
at Fort George, by being put into the guard-house, 
among several refractory soldiers, he had commenced 
beating them with a leg of a bench, which he had bro- 
ken off, and before the guard alarmed b}^ the cries of 
'* murde?'," had time to come to their assistance, he had 
knocked down three or four. For this, he was fallen 
and stretched on a log, sunk level with the ground, 
where he was tightly fastened down with ropes, and 



45 

kept in that position for several daj^s. It was here he 
had taken the rheumatic pains, under which he was 
suffering. 

A company of merchants, five in number, from Long 
Point, and who had come to Montreal to lay in goods, 
put up at the tavern where I lodged, and sent me an 
invitation to come to their room after supper, and 
drink some wine with them. They were very sociable, 
and made a good many inquiries relative to my impris- 
onment and subsequent treatment. I gratified them 
in every particular. Next morning, I was speaking to 
one of their boatman, who was going to get his watch 
repaired, and I asked him to show it to me, and to my 
astonishment he drew out my own watch. It had a 
compass on the face of it, and the needle being loose, 
I asked him if he could fasten it, and upon his answer- 
ing that he could not, 1 told him to hand it to me, and 
I would fasten it for him ; when he was in the act of 
reaching it to me, I remarked, that I had carried that 
watch a much lon.ger time than he, and that it was the 
very one which had been taken from me by the Indians, 
when I was made prisoner; he immediately drew back 
his hand, when I told him not to be alarmed, as I had 
no notion of laying claim to it, as I supposed he came 
honestly by it. He then handed it to me, when I put 
in the needle, I showed him the spring which fastened 
it, and returned it to him, saying, that if I had money 
I W(jukl buy it of him, as it was a favorite watch, and 
had been the gift of a brother, now dead ; but, that as 
my means had been taken, as well as ni}' watch, I had 
no means of gratifying myself, by its recovery. The 
same evening, however, the merchants again sent for 
me to their room, and after some conversation, and 
drinking a few glasses of wine, one of them drew out 
my watch, and presented it to me, saying, he hoped I 



46 

would receive it as a mark of their friendship, and that 
they felt ver}^ happy in being able to restore it to me. 
They had each subscribed five dollars. I feel sorry that 
I cannot recollect the names of men who acted so very 
generously. 

Next mornmg Gillas and I were ordered to repair to 
the wharf, there to go aboard a vessel bound for Que- 
bec ; previous to going on board, I called to bid Mrs. 
Norris farewell ; she inquired if T had any money to 
purchase necessaries for the voyage, and upon my 
replying that I had not, presented me with four dollars, 
which she insisted upon my taking, regretting, at the 
same time, the absence of her husband, which disabled 
her from giving me a much larger sum. We repaired, 
according to orders, to the wharf, and went aboard of a 
merchant vessel. I regret very much that the loss of 
detached parts of my manuscript, has put it out of my 
power in several instances to mention the names of 
persons from whom I had received kindnesses; the 
captain of the vessel which conveyed us to Quebec, is 
amongst the number of those, whose names it would 
have afforded me pleasure to record ; he was in every 
sense of the word, a gentleman. He conducted us to 
his cabin, and opened for us his library, assuring us if 
we could find any thing in it to divert ourselves, we 
were perfectly welcome to its use. When dinner time 
came he sent for us to dine with him, and continued 
to entertain us at his own table all the time we were 
aboard; dinner over, he brought in brandy and wine, 
requesting us to make choice and help ourselves. In 
the evening, after supper, we had our wine and a pack 
of cards for our amusement, when he would himself 
take a hand. This, as the saying is, was too good to 
last long, and in three days we reached Quebec, a 
large and handsome town, and the capital of Canada. 



47 

The first place taken notice of upon landing here, is a 
square of an irregular figure, with well built houses 
on each side, on the back of which is a rock ; on the 
left it is bounded by a small church, and on the right 
are two rows of handsome, and apparently convenient 
houses, built parallel to each other. There is another 
row between the church and the harbor, and another 
and a large one on the side of the bay. This is a kind 
of suburb ; between this and the great street is a very 
steep ascent, with steps for foot passengers. This is 
what is called the Upper Town ; the city being divided 
into an Upper and Lower Town. In the upper is sit- 
uated the Bishop's palace, a ver}?- elegant and splendid 
building, and between two large squares is a fort, where 
the Governor lodges. The RecoUcts, a sort of Francis- 
can friars, have handsome houses over against it. On 
the right of the Cathedral, and directly facing it, stands 
the ci-devant Jesuits college. In a direct line from 
the fort, and parallel to each other, run two streets 
which are crossed by a third, and between these and 
the Governor's house are situate a church and a con- 
vent. The houses are mostly built of stone, and the 
number of inhabitants amounted, I was informed, to 
about seven thousand. The fort is also a handsome 
building. Quebec is situated at the confluence of the 
rivers St. Lawrence and St. Charles. The river, 
which from the sea hither, is about four or five leagues 
broad, narrows all of a sudden to the breadth of a mile. 
The harbor is safe and commodious, and the water is 
about five fathoms deep. 

Quebec is not regularly fortified, but it cannot be 
easily taken, for the harbor is flanked with two bastions, 
which at high tides are almost level with the water. 
In the year seventeen hundred and eleven, the Bri- 
tish fitted out a fleet, with a design to conquer Can- 



48 

ada, which failed, in consequence of the Admiral rash- 
ly following his own opinion, although in direct contra- 
diction to the advice of his pilot, in sailing too close to 
the " Seven Isles," by which piece of imprudence he 
lost his largest ships, and upwards of three thousand 
of his best soldiers. On the eighteenth of October, 
seventeen hundred and fifty-nine, it was taken however, 
by the British, under the command of General Wolfe, 
who fell in the battle, after he had the satisfaction of 
knowing that his troops were victorious. 

In December, seventeen hundred and seventy-five' 
it was attacked by the Americans, under General 
Montgomer}'-, who was killed, and his army repulsed. 
Ouebec lies three hundred and twelve miles from the 
sea coast, and five hundred and ninety northwest of 
Boston. 

Having arrived here we were paroled to Beaufort, 
a village at the distance of about three miles, where we 
were ordered to proceed immediately. We got into 
a calash or sort of gig, which carried us there in a short 
time, for which conveyance we were charged two 
dollars each. Here we fell into company with a num- 
ber of paroled officers, and here I again came into 
company with my old friends and companions, Major 
Gallowa)^ and Captain Roberts from Cumberland coun- 
ty, the latter of whom had been made prisoner at the 
battle of Bridgewater, on the twenty-fifth of July eigh- 
teen hundred and fourteen. 

Here also we met with Major V/ilson, Major Stau- 
ton, Col. Churchill, and several other oflicers from the 
state of New-York. The hostages who had been kept 
in Quebec prison for several months, were also at this 
place under parole. 

The officers whose names I have above mentioned, 
had been marched to this place over land, under guard, 



49 

and had been, during their march, treated by the guard 
with the utmost contempt. When in their passage 
along the roads, they came in contact with a mud hole, 
although there might be plenty of room to pass round, 
they were compelled to walk through it, at the point of 
the bayonet. In many places they were almost knee 
deep in mud. 

During the whole of the war, the treatment receiv- 
ed by the American prisoners, was cruelly mortify- 
ing to them, and deeply degrading to the captors. That 
of an officer belonging to the New-York militia, who 
had been wounded and made prisoner, was shameful in 
the extreme : He had been shot through his shoulder, 
and had his collar-bone broken, so that he could not 
raise his arm, and it was put into a sling by some of 
his companions. He was dragged all the way to Mon- 
treal without having had his wound dressed, and even 
in his bloody clothes, a distance of at least fifty miles, 
where it was dressed ; but assistance so long neglected 
came too late, and the unfortunate man died at Beau- 
fort, totally neglected. I never felt more pity for suf- 
fering humanity, than this poor fellow's case excited. 
Death is at all times a scene of sorrow, even when ac- 
companied by every thing calculated to soothe the mind, 
and relieve the anxiety of the sufferer; how much more 
distressing, therefore, must have been the situation of a 
man d3nng far from home, in the midst of his enemies, 
and under the most mortifying treatment, with his 
thoughts resting on his family, who would be left to la- 
ment his loss ? 

I will mention another instance of unfeeling treat- 
ment, tov/ards a private soldier ; a musket ball had brok- 
en his leg, and in the absence of all other care or at- 
tendance, his companions had splintered it up as well 
as they knew how, and it was beginning to heal. On his 



50 

way to La Chine, where he was taken b}'- water, he was 
rudely thrown from the boat by a British soldier, be- 
cause he did not mov^e as fast as those who were well, 
and his leg was again broken. He was then hauled in 
a cart, into which he was brutally tumbled, to Montreal, 
in a state of extreme suffering. 

At Beaufort the officers formed themselves into mess- 
es, and rented a room or two, as the mess was larger 
or smaller. Major Galloway, Stanton, myself and some 
others, whose names I do not recollect, belonged to 
Col. Churchill's mess. The Colonel and Major Gal- 
loway had each a man to wait on them, who cooked for 
us. We paid three dollars a week for the room, and 
the privilege of cooking at the kitchen fire ; a cart load 
of wood cost two dollars, a turkey one dollar, a chicken 
twenty-five cents, and beef was twenty cents a pound, 
and by marketing for ourselves, and messing together 
we fared better and at less cost, than if we were at a 
boarding house. Capt. Roberts boarded at the only 
tavern in the place, and from their manner of cooking, 
which I witnessed one day, I had no desire whatever, 
to belong to his company. Eels they kept barrelled 
up as herrings are, and they cook them in a different 
manner from what I had ever seen before, which is 
called the French method. The landlad)^ whom I saw 
dress them, took a large one out of the barrel, it was 
just as it had been caught, except that it had been in 
pickle, and having twisted it around in the form of a 
ring, tied it in that shape with a piece of thread, when 
opening the bar-room stove door she hung it on a hook 
placed inside of the stove, and closing the door left it 
there. After a while she came back with a plate in her 
hand, and with a tongs removed the eel, and put it on 
the plate, when it was conve5^ed to the table, and the 
guests commenced carving and helping themselves. 



51 

Those who disHked eating the skin, might leave it with 
the intestines on the plates. 

We had the privilege of walking as far as the bridge 
over the river Montmorency, near which is a beautiful 
waterfall, formed by the waters of the Montmorency, 
pouring over steep rocks, and falling with a tremendous 
noise, into the St. Lawrence, from a distance of from 
one to two hundred feet. 

Major Vandewenter, from Philadelphia, one of the 
hostages, who had been confined in Quebec Jail, was 
at that time permitted by the British to act as Ameri- 
can agent, the former agent having been sent home 
some time previous. In makmg out his requisition 
to pay for cloathing, &c., he so managed as to have 
such an overplus, as enabled him to give each of us two 
months pay, with which I purchased cloathing. 

The houses here are principally of stone, tvvo stories 
high, with very steep roofs; they are built in this man- 
ner to facilitate the falling off of the snow, in the win- 
ter, which would otherwise injure the roof, as it lies in 
that season, to the depth of from six to seven feet. The 
quality of the land, about Beaufort, appears to be 
good, principally lime stone ; the farms are narrow, run- 
ning in one direction, to the base of a large mountain, 
and in the other to the water's edge. The people 
here are excessiveh^ fond of onions, you will hardly 
find a family, who will not lay up for winter use, from 
fifty to a hundred bushels. They seem to live very 
poorly, not being able to buy beef on account of its 
ver}'- high price. 

1 had been here between three and four weeks, when 
one evening a British officer came in and told us we 
must make preparations to go on board of a vessel then 
in harbor and bound for Halifax, on the following even- 
ing. We enquired if it would be necessary for us to 



52 

purchase sea stores, and were told that it would be en- 
tirely unnecssary. as we should fare as well as the Ad- 
miral. We accordingly went aboard without making 
any preparations, and were put in possession of a large 
cabin. The weather was very cold, and it blew quite 
a gale. That evening the Captain went ashore, and 
Captain Hunt, from the state of New York, who had , 
previousl)^ managed to engage a Frenchman, to pilot 
him across the country to the United States, in case he 
should be able to make his escape, commenced prepa- 
rations ; the better to assisst, the Frenchman had hired 
himself on board in capacity of a waiter; they got out 
of the cabin window into the boat which lay astern, but 
to their mortification, found there were no oars ; these, 
after considerable manoeuvering we managed to convey 
from deck into the cabin, one party keeping the guard 
busy in conversation ; from the cabin they were handed 
to the boat, and having muffled the oars, and being 
joined by four others, the painter was cut, and not- 
withstanding there were fifty sail of vessels in the har- 
bor, each one having a lanthorn mounted, and two 
guards patrolling the deck, they efi'ected their escape, 
and got safe to land. There still remained on board 
the vessel, seventeen of our number, so that those who 
made their escape were not missed until the following 
morning at nine o'clock, when the Captain came 
aboard and had the roll called. We were told to pre- 
pare to leave the cabin in an hour, and that we should 
in future take up our quarters in the hold ; when we 
urged that it was rather a hard case to punish us, for 
the offences of others, our captain told us that he was 
very well aware that they could not have got away 
without our assistance. We then stated that it seem- 
ed rather like punishing us for not having availed our- 
selves of the opportunity presented us, as the boat was 



53 

sufficiently large to hold us all— the only reply he con- 
descended to make us, was, that he would let us know 
that we had our eldest '' bi'ttddcr'' aboard, and that he 
would take care of us — he was a Scotchman by the 
name of Snowden. When the hour given us for pre- 
paration had expired, we were marched into the hold, 
where we were kept for twenty-one days, three days 
and nights of which we had nothing to eat, and when 
at length they did furnish us with provisions, they were 
of such a quality as an American dog would not eat, 
without the necessary stimulus of starvation — they con- 
sisted of old sea bread or biscuit, which, for any thing I 
know, was twenty years old, at all events, it was so 
completely eaten up by the worms, all that the worms 
could penetrate, the outside part being only left, and 
that was so hard that it would require a hammer to 
break it. Bad as it was we were not furnished with 
more than one fourth of a common soldier's allowance. 
This was shovelled up into a sack and with a bone of 
beef thrown into the hold as if to so man}^ dogs. We 
cut the meat and broke the bread into small pieces, and 
boiled all together, making a kind of soup called lob- 
scouse ; while it was in preparation, we had made each 
of us a spoon, and this done, it was poured out upon a 
large wooden dish, and standing round, we played 
away, until the hollow rattle of our spoons upon the 
dish reminded us that it was empty. We fared twice 
a day in this sumptuous manner. The water too 
which they gave us to drink was most dreadful stuff; no 
human being could drink it without holding his nose, 
the stench was so great. In the evening, our waiter 
had the good fortune to procure us a bucket of water, 
which was divided amongst us as though it was a lux- 
ury, and indeed to our tasting, it was delicious. 

When we came to a place called "Ship Harbour," 



54 

the vessels were obliged to lie to for a couple of da3^s, 
in consequence of bad weather. We had a very hea- 
vy sea, and the winds were very rough, and previous to 
our reaching Ship Harbour, had lost one of the vessels 
belonging to the fleet, which I believe was never heard 
of. It must have gone down, as a few days afterwards, 
the bodies of some of the crew were picked up on 
shore, where they had been cast, and were recognized 
by the device and number on their buttons. Fortu- 
nately there were no Americans on board of her. Here 
we were transferred to another vessel, bound to Eng- 
land ; after we had been put on board, we were order- 
ed to go below among the sick and invalids — they were 
then dying fast, and they were every day throwing 
them ov^erboard ; the place too, was very filth}', and full 
of vermin. We refused to go down, and remained on 
deck the whole day, which was bitterly cold, and the 
wind very high. We then petitioned the Admiral for 
better quarters, than those assigned to us, and declar- 
ed in the strongest terms that we would otherwise re- 
main on deck until we perished, and we walked the 
deck from early in the morning until dark, when one 
of the army officers invited us into their cabin, where 
they had something prepared for us to eat, which was 
the first meal we had eaten since we had had our lob- 
scouse the day previous. 

Next morning we were ordered back on board of the 
vessel we had left, and taking advantage of the oppor- 
tunity offered us b)'' the sailors, some of whom were go- 
ing ashore, we gave them some money, to purchase for 
us something to eat. When they returned they brought 
us a bag of potatoes and some fresh cat-fish, of which 
we soon cooked a mess, and 1 thought it was the best 
meal I had ever eaten. After the storm had some- 
what abated we again set sail for Halifax. 



55 

The fleet that went down with us, consisted of twen- 
t)'" sail, two of which were seventy-fours ; after we had 
been several days in the hold, the stove was hoisted up- 
on deck, and we were compelled to do without fire for 
the balance of the passage. Orders had been issued 
that the lights should be extinguished at eight o'clock, 
and that the fire in the stove should be drowned out 
at nine o'clock. In consequence of neglect in this last 
particular, we suffered this severe privation. The wea- 
ther was extremely cold, and the ropes were all hang- 
ing with ice, besides we could not induce the Captain 
to sell us any provisions. I offered the cabin boy one 
dollar for a pint of beef soup, but he refused, saying, 
that if he gave it, he would get the rope's end — he sold 
us rum, however, at one dollar per bottle, and it will 
be readily perceived that we paid our devotions pretty 
regularly to the bottle, when I state that during the 
passage we paid him for rum alone, upwards of two 
hundred dollars. We could not have lived without it, 
and were forced to " keep our spirits up by pouring spir- 
its down." If our Captain were tired of us, before he 
took away the stove, we now gave him double cause to 
be so, as we kept up a continual singing, and noise un- 
til ten and eleven o'clock, every night, and very often 
to a much later hour. He at length became afraid of 
us, and had his guard doubled, by application to some 
of the other vessels. He afterwards made another ap- 
plication, and recovered his temper, when strengthen- 
ed by a couple of army officers. Alarmed as he was, 
he would have been much more so, had he known that 
we had actually agreed to take the vessel as soon as 
we got out of the St. Lawrence, and had sea-room. 
Our plan was to be put in operation in the night, but 
unfortunately for us we got into the ocean early in the 
day, and by night we were inside of the Halifax coast- 



56 

ers. We had two midshipmen and one hcutenant of 
our navy on board, and had so far succeded as to have 
made a passage, by which we could at pleasure enter the 
apartment where the guard slept, and their arms being 
stacked on the floor, could have seized them when we 
pleased. Two of the stoutest of us were to go on 
deck, but two being allowed up at a time, and the stairs 
of the hatches were to be filled with men, ready to rush 
up as soon as they should have seized the guard — some 
were to fasten down the hatches on the sailors, and 
others to take care of the cabin and the officers. We 
would then have compelled the sailors to work the ves- 
sel into New-York, but when night came on, our lieu- 
tenant discouraged the whole undertaking by inform- 
ing us that we were then inside of the Halifax coasters, 
and that should we be so fortunate as to escape from 
the fleet, we would be re-taken by them, and if so, it 
was as likel}^ as not, we should all be hung to the 5'ard 
arms, without further comment. Having no particu- 
lar propensity for s'ivi7iging, we abandoned the project, 
and landed on the following day at Halifax. 

We were marched up the street, under guard like a 
parcel of felons, to the office of the Provost Major, 
where we received paroles to Prescott, a village across 
the bay from Halifax, and were marched back in the 
same order to the boat ; cheered as we went along by 
the expression of sympathy, from the by-standers — ah ! 
poor devils ! exclaimed a poor old Irish woman ; in the 
fulness of her heart and the roughness of her phraseo- 
logy, she expressed her pity for our desolate situation, 
and I have no doubt she felt for us from her soul, for 
her manner indicated sincerit}^ and her e3^e glistened 
with a tear. We were put on board with our little 
store of baggage, and in the morning landed at Pres- 
cott, our place of parole. 



57 

About the time I went on shore T was taken very ill, 
indeed I had been in a very weak state of health, ever 
since I had had the fever, and ni}^ treatment from that 
time was not such as to strengthen or improve it. I 
remained unwell for several da3''s, and wrote to Halifax 
for medical aid, asking even as a favor, to go to the 
hospital, and received neither medical assistance, nor 
answer of any kind. I took a fancy to a drink of cider, 
and accordingly went to a tavern, where I got some 
very good ; it appeared to do me good, and I continued 
the operation, and recovered, without other medicine. 

Halifax is the capital of Nova Scotia, and was found- 
ed in the year seventeen hundred and forty-nine with a 
view to secure the British settlements from the French 
and Indians. It was divided into thirty-five squares, 
each containing sixteen lots of forty by sixty feet. — 
They have one established church, and one meeting 
house. The city is surrounded by picketings, and 
guarded by forts on the outside, and has since been ve- 
ry strongly fortified. Along the Chebucto, south of 
the town, are buildings and fish flakes, for a distance 
of at least two miles, if not more, and on the north of 
the river they extend for a mile and upwards. The plan 
was originally contrived, and afterwards considerably 
improved by the Earl of Halifax. In March of the 
year seventeen hundred and fort3^-nine, was first issued 
the proclamation for the establishment of this settle- 
ment, and so favorable were the terms offered to set- 
tlers, and so strong the desire oi emigration amongst 
the people, that but two months afterwards, that is to 
say, in the month of May, persons had offered them- 
selves, to the number of three thousand seven hundred 
and fifty. They accordingly embarked, and after a 
prosperous voyage, established themselv^es in the bay 



58 

.of Chebucto, where they founded their city, calHng it 
HaHfax, in honor of their patron. 

So actively and with such spirit did they enter into 
operations, that before the end of October three hun- 
dred comfortable wooden houses were built, and as ma- 
ny more during the winter. The British government, 
too, evinced great liberality in the manner, in which 
for six successive 5'-ears, the}'- granted them large sup- 
plies of money, for instance, in the 5'ear seventeen hun- 
dred and forty-nine, they voted them 40,000/ for their 
expences ; in seventeen hundred and fifty they granted 
them 757,582 17^- yi 1-4; in seventeen hundred and 
fifty-one, /53,927 14^- i[d\ in seventeen hundred and 
fifty-two, a sum of /6i,492 195 4<^ 1-4; in seventeen 
hundred and fifty-three, /94,6i5 12^- Ad; in seventeen 
hundred and fifty-four, 755,447 is\ and in seventeen 
hundred and fifty-five, 749,418 ^s Sd. This city has 
at length attained a degree of splendor, that bids fair 
to rival the first cities in the United States, for which 
it has been equally indebted to the late war, to the 
great increase of population from the influx of exiled 
loyalists, and to the fostering care of Great-Britain. 
The harbour is perfectly sheltered from all winds, be- 
ing at the distance of twelve miles from the sea, and 
is so spacious that one thousand ships may ride in 
it without the least danger. Upon it are many com- 
modious wharves which have from twelve to eiehteen 
feet of water at all tides ; the streets are regularl)- laid 
out, and cross each other at right angles, the whole ris- 
ing gradualh^ upon the side of a hill, whose top is regu- 
larly and very strongly fortified. Many considerable 
merchants reside in this place, and are possessed of 
shipping to the amount of several thousand tons, em- 
ployed in a flourishing trade with Europe, and the 
West Indies. There is a small, but excellent careen- 



59 

ing yard for ships of the royal nav)^ that may come in 
to refit, and take water, fuel, or provisions on board, in 
their passage to, and from the West Indies, It is well 
provided with naval stores ; and ships of the line are 
hove down and repaired with the greatest ease and 
safety. Several batteries of heavy cannon, command 
the harbour, particularly, those upon George's island, 
which being very steep and high, and situated in mid 
channel, is well calculated to annoy vessels, in any direc- 
tion. Above the careening yard, which is at the upper 
end of the town, there is a large basin, or piece of wa- 
ter, communicating with the harbor below, is nearly 
twenty miles in circumference, and capable of contain- 
ing the whole navy of England ; it is entirely sheltered 
from all winds, and has but one narrow entrance, which 
leads into the harbor. There are many detached set- 
tlements, formed by the loyalists, along the basin ; the 
lands at a small distance from the water, being general- 
ly supposed to be better than those near Halifax. An 
elegant building is erected near the town, for the con- 
valescence of the navy ; but the healthiness of the cli- 
mate has, as yet, prevented many persons from be- 
coming patients; scarcely any ships in the world, being 
so free from complaints of every kind in regard to 
health, as those that are employed upon this station. 
There is a good light-house, standing upon a small ele- 
vation, just ofl the entrance of the harbor, which is 
visible, either by night or day, from a distance of six or 
seven leagues. Halifax is seven hundred and eighty- 
nine miles north-east of New-York. In winter, the cli- 
mate is very severe, and much addicted to fogs — but to 
return to our narrative. 

We remained in this place until after the declara- 
tion of peace, and boarded during the time we remain- 
ed, at the different taverns, at an expence of from five 



6o 

to seven dollars a week. Our fare, too, was very poor; 
breakfast consisted of bread and butter with some 
roasted herrings, and water, colored with coffee; for 
dinner the}'- gave us generally a leg of mutton stuffed, 
and roasted, and plum-pudding — sometimes they would 
regale us with a roasted goose, but on Fridays we re- 
gularly sat down to codfish and potatoes; our suppers 
were light, consisting of bread slightly marked with 
butter, and a cup of tea, no doubt, through fear of in- 
juring our digestion. The naval officers were paroled 
to a small village some miles distant, as they did not 
like to hav^e them so near the water. 

In some parts of Upper Canada, through which I pass- 
ed, the people did not appear to pay the least respect 
to the Sabbath da3^ I have frequently seen women 
churning butter and baking bread, and men chopping 
wood, and attending to divers other employments, the 
same as on week-days. They have a substitute for 
coffee, of which it has fallen to m}^ lot, more than once 
to partake, viz.: dry crusts of bread put on the fire and 
burnt black, then pounded fine, and boiling water be- 
ing poured upon it, it is suffered to rest for a while 
when it is pronounced fit for use. Provisions of all 
sorts were very scarce and dear. In the markets of 
Halifax, beef was upwards of twenty cents a pound, 
turkey was fifty cents per lb., wheaten meal, though sour, 
was twenty-four dollars per barrel, and I saw them 
manufacturing flour in a mill near Halifax, that was so 
much spoiled, and so firmly cemented together, that 
they had to dig it out of the barrel with a heavy spade, 
it was then placed under a sort of pounder, and after it 
had been pounded and bolted, through a cross-bolt, 
the lumps were collected, and after having undergone 
a repitition of the process, the whole was mixed with 
fresh wheat, and re-bolted, until made fine enough to 



6i 

pass through, when it was packed and sent to market. 
Major Galloway and I paid two dollars, at a tavern in 
Halifax, lor a couple of glasses of brandy each, and 
some oysters, which were so bad, we were forced to 
leave them. untouched. 

There were but few men in the village in which we 
were paroled, some followed fishing, some the sea, and 
others the army. The soil of the country around ap- 
peared to be very poor, the country abounded with 
small lakes ; the timber was principally scrubby white 
pine, not growing thicker than from six to twelve inch- 
es in circumference. This was the wood used for fir- 
ing by the inhabitants, each of whom cut and hauled as 
much as he pleased without interruption. The corn 
stalks which I saw in some gardens, and this was the only 
place in which I saw any, were no larger than a person's 
finger. 

About this time the news of the defeat of the British 
before New-Orleans, reached Halifax, and disappoint- 
ment and chagrin were depicted in the countenance- 
of every individual, with the exception of the Ameris 
can prisoners, whose joy was almost without bounds. 
The merchants who had been speculating, and many 
of them had embarked largely in purchasing the sol- 
diers rights of plunder at New-Orleans, of cotton, su- 
gar, tobacco, &c., were actually thunderstruck. Many 
of them upon hearing the news, collected all the cash 
they could lay their hands upon, and disposed of as 
much merchandise as possible, and cleared out, well 
knowing that they had not the slightest chance of any- 
thing but absolute poverty, if they remained. Every 
day while I remained there, I witnessed sales of their 
goods at auction in the streets. 

When the news of the victory reached us at Pres- 
cott, the officers assembled at what was called ''Jack- 



62 

sons Tavern," where Major Galloway, Captain Crown- 
inshield, myself, and several others boarded, and spent 
the afternoon in jollity and mirth. "Hail Columbia," 
I suppose was never sung with more heart-felt grati- 
tude, than we sang it that afternoon ; joining hands, form- 
ing a circle and walking round, we sang with all our 
force, disregardful entirely of consequences ; but we 
were permitted to enjoy ourselves without molestation, 
as there was not a British officer or soldier then resi- 
dent in the village. Captain Crowninshield had been 
detained in imprisonment for something like a year af- 
ter he had been legally exchanged ; immediately after 
the news of peace had reached them, Captain Cushet, 
the provost Major, sent a line to him, with directions 
to have his baggage put on board of a certain vessel 
then lying in the harbor, bound for the United States, 
and then to repair to his office in Halifax ; the Captain 
did so, and on appearing in the othce, the Major asked 
him if he did not feel rejoiced at the prospect of return- 
ing to his family. Crowninshield replied that he did ; 
but added at the same time, "without considering my- 
self at all indebted to you, Captain Cushet." Cushet 
answered, that thanks were not only due to himself but 
to several others, gentlemen resident in Halifax, w^io 
had interested themselves considerably, to procure his 
liberation — to this our friend replied, that these of his 
friends in Halifax, who had interested themselves for 
him, he did indeed feel deeply indebted, but to Cap- 
tain Cushet he again asserted he did not conceive him- 
self at all indebted, as he had it in his power to prove 
without leaving the cit3^ in black and white, that it was 
through his means alone he had been so long illegally 
detained in captivit)'' ; and he had 5^et to learn that cru- 
elty and injustice had power to bind the object upon 
whom they had been practised, to feelings of regard or 



63 

consideration for his oppressor. This charge was de- 
nied most positively and as positively and firmly repeat- 
ed, when at length, Cushet completely losing all com- 
mand of his temper, the following dialogue ensued : 
"You shall not go home even now, sir." "Thank you, 
sir." " Go on board and remove your baggage, and re- 
turn to your place of parole." "Thank you, sir." "I 
will send you to Mellville prison, sir." " Thank you, 
sir." " Begone out of my office, sir." " Thank you, 
sir." Captain Crowninshield then left the office and 
related the circumstance at dinner, when he was warm- 
ly greeted by all for his firmness, and they actually car- 
ried him on their shoulders round the room. He then 
called for wine, to treat his fellow officers of whom there 
were about a dozen, then in the house ; we devoted our- 
selves to merriment and had a jovial time of it; several 
other paroled American officers gathered in, and before 
we had retired to rest ourselves, we had consigned to 
rest upwards of forty bottles of good wine, thus cele- 
brating our country's glory, and our enemies' disgrace, 
under their very noses. The next morning the Cap- 
tain made it known that he expected a guard to be 
sent to conduct him to Melville prison ; several of the 
officers, unknown to him, met together and formed a 
resolution to attempt his rescue, and if possible prevent 
his going to jail ; he however came to the knowledge of 
the matter by some means, and begged of them to de- 
sist from their purpose, as it was impossibe to prevent 
his going to jail in an enemy's country ; that they would 
only risk their own lives, withoutdoing him any service ; 
I saw him plead with them, with tears in his eyes, so over- 
come was he by his feelings, before he could persuade 
them to give up their project — he, however, at length 
succeeded ; he was so universal a favorite amongst the 
officers, that I firmly believe, had they after reflection, 



64 

found the undertaking feasible, they would never have 
consented to abandon the enterprise. 

Captain C. was from Salem, in the state of IVIassachu- 
setts ; he had formerly been the captain of a vessel, which 
occupation he had followed for nearly twenty years ; 
and was well acquainted with the merchants of Halifax. 
For some time previous to the war, he had not gone to 
sea, and would not have again resumed the service, had 
he not had two vessels laden with goods, captured and 
run into British ports, where they were condemned un- 
der pretence of having smuggled goods aboard. One 
of the vessels thus captured had a cargo of West In- 
dia goods, worth ten thousand dollars. Having still 
something of his property left, he fitted up a small ves- 
sel with a swivel gun and a good crew, and went out 
privateering; he had married a young wife about a year 
before he went to sea. In his first trip he was fortun- 
ate, taking several British vessels ; when they proved 
to be of small value, the valuable part of the cargo was 
taken out, and she was scuttled ; her crew would then 
be paroled and put on shore — he made, however, two 
very valuable prizes, one of which sold for one hundred 
thousand dollars, which served in part to remunerate 
him for previous losses. 

Upon his scond trip, having taken and scuttled two 
or three vessels, the crews of which not having an op- 
portunity of being put ashore, were still on board, he 
was on the look-out for an old West Indiaman, bound 
for Halifax, having a valuable cargo, and which was 
hourly expected, and when within a short distance 
of the Halifax coast, came in sight of an old seventy- 
four ; this he mistook for his expected prize, and accord- 
ingly made sail for her, and it being late in the even- 
ing, and a thick fog, he had got alongside before he dis- 
covered his error. Those on board the seventy-four, 



65 

with a view of correcting his mistake, shoved out their 
guns, and gave him a broadside ; by dint of several times 
shifting his course, he however, made his escape, and 
ran on until he thought himself safe, when he lay too, 
fearful that if he proceeded he would get out of the 
track of the West Indiaman ; unfortunately for him 
however, his antagonist had shaped her course in the 
same manner, and was alongside before day-break of 
the following morning, when before he could get away, 
she poured into him a broadside, which shot off his 
main-mast, and otherwise so far disabled him as to pre- 
clude all possibility of escape — he consequently struck 
his l^ag, and was fired into even after that process. 
When taken, he had twice as many prisoners, as he 
had of his own crew — they were all taken to Halifax, 
where they were detained until after the peace. 

According to Captain Crowninshield's expectations, 
in one or two days after he had returned to his place 
of parole, Captain Cushet came over to pay us, what 
we called in derision, our starvation money, more pro- 
perly, subsistence money, being twenty dollars per 
month, in lieu of rations, which was nothing like suffi- 
cient to support us ; he had a guard with him, and told 
Crowninshield that he must now set out for Melville 
prison. In conversation which they held about the 
matter, and in reply to the question of why he should 
be sent to prison, the captain was informed that it was 
not for anything he had said, but solely for the tone in 
which it had been spoken ; he was then taken off, and 
carried to Melville, where they kept him for about ten 
days, when he was set at liberty and sent home to Sa- 
lem. In Melville prison there were confined from 
twelve to fourteen hundred Americans, who were treat- 
ed with as much barbarity, as though the worst of con- 
victs, some of them being half naked. John Hughes, 



66 

one of my men who was confined there, got an oppor- 
tunity of writing to me, stating how much he suffered 
from want of clothes and tobacco, at the time I receiv- 
ed his letter, I had but two dollars and three shirts 
which, however, I divided with him, giving him one dol- 
lar, and one shirt and a great coat, which proved to him 
of considerable service. 

Melville prison is two hundred feet in length, and 
fifty broad, it is two stories high, the upper one being 
for officers, and for the infirmary and dispensary, while 
the lower part is divided into two prisons, one of which 
was occupied by French, and the other by Americans. 
The prison yard covers a space of ground of about one 
acre in extent, the whole island containing little more 
than five acres ; it is connected on the south side with 
the main land, by a bridge. In a journal which has 
fallen into my hands, I find a ver}^ minute account 
of the prison on Melville Island and the treatment of 
the unfortunate men confined there, which I copy 
in order to show my readers, that I am not the only 
one who speaks hastily of our English captives. With the 
language or sentiments of the writer I have nothing to 
do, and merely copy it as confirming my own state- 
ment, as to the hardships suiTered by the inmates of the 
prison, and as giving a more minute account of its dis- 
cipline and regulations, than I was enabled to procure 
from enquiry. The writer of the journal referred to, 
went from the Port of Salem, as assistant surgeon, on 
board a privateer, in December of 1812 — the title page 
of the work is lost, and I am consequently unable to 
give his name. 

"As to the inside of the prison at Melville, if the A- 
merican reader expects to hear it represented as a place 
resembling the large prisons for criminals in the United 
States, such as those at Boston, New York, or Phila- 



(>7 

delphia, he will be sadly disappointed. Some of these 
prisons are as clean, and nearly as comfortable as some 
of the monasteries and convents on the continent of 
Europe. Our new prisons in the United States, reflect 
great honor on the nation, they speak loudly that we 
are a considerate and humane people; whereas the pri- 
son at Halifax, erected solely for the safe keeping of 
prisoners of war, resembles a horse stable with stalls 
or stancheons for separating the cattle from each other. 
It is to a contrivance of this sort that they attach the 
cords that support those canvass bags or cradles, call- 
ed hammocks. Four tiers of these hanging nets 
were made to swing one above the other, between these 
stalls or stancheons. To those unused to such lofty 
sleeping berths, they were rather unpleasant situa- 
tions for repose. But use makes every thing easy. 

The first time that I was shut up for the night in this 
prison, it distressed me too much to close my eyes. 
Its closeness and smell were, in a degree, disagreeable, 
but this was trifling to what I experienced afterwards 
in another place. The general hum and confused noise 
from almost every hammock, was at first very distress- 
ing. Some would be lamenting their hard fate at being 
shut up like negro slaves in a guinea ship, or like fowls 
in a hen-coop, for no crime, but for fighting the bat- 
tles of their country. Some were cursing and execra- 
ting their oppressors ; others late at night were relating 
their adventures to a new prisoner, others lamenting 
their aberrations from rectitude, and disobedience to 
parents, and head-strong wilfulness, that drove them to 
sea contrary to their parents' wish ; while others of the 
younger class were sobbing out their lamentations at 
the thoughts of what their mothers and sisters suffered, 
after knowing of their imprisonment. Not unfrequent- 
ly the whole night was spent in that way, and when about 



68 

day-break, the weary prisoner fell into a dose, he was 
waked from his slumber by the grinding- noise of the 
locks, and the unbarring of the doors, with the cry of 
"turn out — all out," when each man took down his 
hammock, and lashed it up and slung it on his back, 
and was ready to answer to the roll call of the turnke)^- 
If any, through natural heaviness, or indisposition, was 
dilatory, he was sure to feel the baj'-onet of the soldier, 
who appeared to us to have a natural antipathy to a sai- 
lor, and from what I observed, I believe that in general 
little or no love is lost between them. 

This prison is swept out twice a week by the prison- 
ers. The task is performed by the respective messes 
in turns. When the prison is washed, the prisoners 
are kept out until it is perfectly dry. This in the wet 
seasons, and the severity of winter is sometimes very 
distressing and dangerous to health ; for there is no re- 
tiring place for shelter, it is like a stable where the 
cattle are either under cover or exposed to the weather, 
be it ever so inclement. 

When we arrived here in May 1813, there were 
about nine hundred prisoners, but many had died by the 
severity of the winter, and the quantity of fuel allowed 
by the British government was insufficient to convey 
warmth through the prison. The men were cruelly 
harassed by the custom of mustering and parading 
them in the severest cold, and even in snow storms. 
The agent. Miller, might have alleviated the suffermgs 
of our people, had he been so disposed, without relax- 
ation of duty. But he as well as the turnke}', named 
Grant, seemed to take delight m tormenting the Ameri- 
cans. This man would often keep the prisoners out 
for many hours, in the severest weather, when the mer- 
cury was ten and fifteen degrees below O ; under a pre- 
text that the prison had been washed, and was not suf- 



69 

ficiently dry for their reception, when, in fact every 
drop of water used, was in a moment, ice. People in 
the Southern states, and the inhabitants of England 
and Ireland, can form no adequate idea of the frightful 
climate of Nova Scotia. The description of the suffer- 
ings of our poor fellows, the past winter, was enough to 
make one's heart ache, and to rouse our indignation 
against the agents in this business. 

Our people are sensible to kind treatment, and 
are ready to acknowledge humane and considerate con- 
duct towards themselves or towards their companions, 
but they are resentful in proportion as they are grate- 
ful. They speak very general of the conduct of Mil- 
ler, the agent, and Grant, the turnke}^ with disgust and 
resentment. A complaint was made to him of the bad- 
ness of the beef served out to the prisoners, upon which 
he collected them together, mounted the stair case 
and began a most passionate harangue, declaring that 

the beef was good enough and a d d deal better than 

they had in their own country ; and if they did not eat it, 
they should have none. He then went on as follows: — 

Hundreds of you, d d scoundrels, have been to me 

begging and pleading, that I Avould interpose my influ- 
ence that you might be the first to be exchanged, to re- 
turn home to your families, who were starving in your 
absence, and now you have the impudence to tell me 
to my face, that the king's beef is not good enough for 
your dainty stomachs. Why some of that there beef 
is good enough for me to eat. You are a set of mean 
rascals, you beg of an enemy the favors which your 
own government won't grant you. You complain of 
ill treatment, when you never had better in your lives. 
Had you been in a French prison and fed on horse 
beef, you would have some grounds of complaint, but 
here in his Brittannic majesty's royal prison you have ev- 



70 

erything that is right and proper for persons taken 
fighting against his crown and dignit3^ — There is a 
surgeon here for you, if you are sick, and physic to 
take if you are sick, and a hospital to go to into the 
bargain, and if you die, there are boards enough, (point- 
ing to a pile of lumber in the yard) for to make your 
coffins, and one hundred and fifty acres of land to bury 
you in, and if you are not satisfied with all this, you 

may die and be d d! Having finished this eloquent 

harangue, orator Miller descended from his rostrum, 
and strutted out of the prison yard, accompanied with 
hisses from some of the prisoners. 

On a re-examination, however, of the "king's beef," 
some pieces were found too much tainted for a dog to 
eat, and the prisoners threw it over the pickets. After 
this the supply of wholesome meat was such as it ought 
be, full good enough for Mr. Miller himself to eat, and 
some of the very best pieces good enough for Mr. 
Grant, the turnkey. 

In all this business of provision for prisoners of war, 
one thing ought to be taken into consideration, which 
may be offered as an extenuation of crime alleged against 
the British agents for prisoners; and that is, that the 
American solder and sailor live infinitely better in A- 
merica, than the same class of people do in Great Bri- 
tain and Ireland. Generally speaking, an American 
eats three times the quantity of animal food that falls 
to the share of the same class of people in England, 
Holland, Germany, Denmark or Sweden. — He sleeps 
more comfortably, and lives in greater plenty of fish, 
fiesh, vegetables, and spirituous liquors. Add to this, 
his freedom is in a manner unbounded. He speaks his 
mind to any man. If he thinks he is wronged, he seeks 
redress with confidence; if he is insulted he resents it. 
and if you should venture to strike him, he never will 



7' 

rest quiet under the dishonor; 3^et you seldom hear of 
quarrels ending in murder; the dagger and pistol are 
weapons in a manner unknown ; the fist a la mode de 
John Bull, is commonly the ultimatum of a Yankee's 
rage. 

We often hear the British if they are unsuccessful, 
lamenting the war between England and America ; they 
call it an unhappy strife between brethren, and they 
attribute this " unnatural war " to a French influence, 
and their friends in New England, who are denomina- 
ted tories, use the same language ; they say that all the 
odium of the war ought to fall on our administration, and 
their wicked seducers, the French ; and yet you will find 
that both in England and at Halifax, the French meet 
with better treatment than their dear brothers the A- 
mericans. 

We found that there were about two hundred French 
prisoners in Nova Scotia. Some had been there ever 
since eighteen hundred and three ; few of them were 
confined in prison. The chief of them lived in or near 
the town of Halifax, working for the inhabitants, or 
teaching dancing or fencing, or their own language. 
Some were employed as butchers and cooks, others as 
nurses in the hospital, and they were every where fa- 
vored for their complaisance, obedience, and good hu- 
mor. They had the character of behaving better to- 
wards the British officers and inhabitants than the 
Americans, and I believe, with reason ; for our men 
seem to take delight in plaguing, embarrassing and alarm- 
ing those who were set over them. A Frenchman al- 
ways tried to please, while many Americans seemed to 
take an equal delight in letting their masters know, 
that they longed to be at liberty to fight them again. 
I confess I do not wonder, that the submissive, smiling 
Frenchman made more friends at Halifax, than the or- 



72 

dinary run of American seaman, who seemed too often 
to look and speak, as if they longed to try again the 
tug of war, with John Bull. 

The daily allowance of the British government to our 
prisoners, is one pound of bread, one pound of beef, 
and one gill of peas. Over and above this, we receiv- 
ed from the American agent, a sufficiency of coffee, 
sugar, potatoes and tobacco. The first may be called 
the bare necessaries of life, but the latter contribute 
much to its comfortable enjoyment. Whether the 
British government ought not to have found the whole 
I am not prepared to determine, but certainly before 
this addition from our own agent, our men complained 
bitterly. 

We were one day not a little shocked by the arrival of a 
number of American soldiers who were entrapped and 
taken with Col. Boerstler, in Upper Canada. They exhi- 
bited a picture of misery, woe and despair. Their mise- 
rable condition called forth our sympathy and compas- 
sion, and I may add, excited our resentment against the 
authors of their distress. These unfortunate landsmen 
had never been used to rough it like sailors, but had 
lived the easy life of farmers and mechanics. Some 
of them had never experienced the hardships of a sol- 
dier's life, but were raw, inexperienced militiamen. 
They were taken at some creek, between Fort George 
and Little York, by the British and their allies, the In- 
dians, who stripped them of most of their cloathing. and 
then wore them down by long and harassing marches : 
first to Montreal and then to Quebec, and soon after 
crowded them on board transports like negroes, in a 
guinea ship, when some suiifered death, and others 
merely escaped it. It appears from their account, and 
from every other account, that the treatment of these 
poor fellows at their capture and on their march, and 



7^ 

more especial!}^ on board the transports from Quebec 
to Halifax, was barbarous in the extreme, and highly 
disgraceful to the British name and nation. 

We have asserted uniformly that the prisoners who 
came from Quebec to Halifax, and Boston, down the 
St. Lawrence, were treated and provided for in a man- 
ner little above brutes. Colonel Scott, now Major 
Gen. Scott, came by that route from Quebec to Boston, 
and it is well-known that he complained, that there was 
neither accommodations, provisions or anything on 
board the ship, proper for a gentleman. He spoke of 
the whole treatment he received, with deep disgust and 
pointed resentment. If an olTicer of his rank and ac- 
complishments had so much reason for complaint, we 
may easily conceive what the private soldier must en- 
dure. 

We paid every attention in our power to these poor 
fellows, whose emaciated appearance and dejection 
gave us reason to expect that an end would soon be put 
to their sufferings by death. They, however, recruited 
fast, and we were soon convinced that they were redu- 
ced to the condition we saw them in, absolutely for 
want of food. The account which these soldiers gave 
of their hardships, was enough to fill with rage and re- 
sentment the heart of a saint. Four men were not al- 
lowed more provisions than what was needful for one. 
The}'' assured us that if they had not secretly come at 
some bags of ship bread, unknown to the officers of the 
transport, they must have perished for want of food. — 
We cannot pass over one anecdote; some fish were 
caught by our own people on the passage, in common 
with the crew, but they were compelled to deliver them 
all to the captain of the ship, who withheld them from 
the American prisoners. Some of the prisoners had a 
little money, and the captain of the transport was mean 



74 

enough to take a dollar for a single cod-fish, from men 
in their situation. This fact has appeared in several 
Boston papers, with the names of the persons concern- 
ed, and has never been contradicted or doubted. We 
give this as the common report, and as the Boston 
news-papers circulated freel)^ through Nova Scotia and 
Canada, we infer that had the story been void of truth 
it would have been contradicted. 

About the month of August, Halifax was alarmed, 
by a report that the prisoners in Mellville jail, had at- 
tempted to break prison with a view of seizing upon 
the town — the report was in some measure correct, as 
an attempt of the kind had been made, but failed, in 
consequence of the imprudence of some of the prison- 
ers, who having mined under the wall, crept out in day 
light to see how it looked from the outside, and being 
discovered by the guard were fired upon. Whether 
there was just cause for the extraordinary excitement 
created by this affair, or any real necessity for the ve- 
ry formidable precautions which were taken, remains a^ 
matter of speculation ; be that as it ma)^ however, or- 
ders were issued that all loyal citizens should hold 
themselves in readiness at a moment's warning, to re- 
pel the attack of about one thousand unarmed prison- 
ers ; a company of artillery with two pieces of cannon 
were placed upon an eminence south of the prison, 
cannons were also placed in different directions so as 
to play upon the prison, and a line of sentries were 
placed at regular distances, all the way into the town 
of Halifax, the people had been actually made to be- 
lieve that they had sworn to murder every man, woman 
and child in the town. 

The weather was at this time very severe; I have 
seen many of the American prisoners, with their ears 
frostbitten, and many of the negroes, who were carried 



75 

away from their masters, in the United States, actual- 
ly perished with the cold. The Indians were wrapped 
up in blankets, feet and legs, and also appeared pretty 
well preserved with smoke. They came into the town 
of Halifax about ten or eleven o'clock every day, appa- 
rently half frozen, and would mope about the streets 
from store to store, in search of empty whiskey barrels; 
when they found one they would take it to the pump, 
p(jur water in it, and after rinsing it well, would drink 
the water; they were the most wretched and pitiable 
objects I ever saw. 

We got through the winter as well as we could, and 
near the last of February, our ears were blessed with 
the news of peace, and we immediately commenced 
making preparations for our return home. According 
to the articles of the treaty of peace, every officer was 
bound to pay his debts before he could return home, 
and Colonel Cushet made a loan, for all the volunteer 
officers who were there. The only place at which he 
could raise mone}^ was from a merchant tailor, who 
bound him to take as much cloathing as would amount 
to the sum wanted in cash, at his own price, payino- 
the whole to a certain house in Boston in ten days, 
with ten per cent for the use of it. Having procured 
cash, we settled our affairs, laid in sea stores, and went 
aboard — here again the weather seemed to have con- 
spired against us, and we were, in consequence of con- 
trary winds, detained ten days on board ; at the expira- 
tion of which time we landed at Salem, where we were 
warmly received by an old friend, Capt. Crowninshield, 
who had landed a few days previous. He was accom- 
panied by several gentlemen of distinction, who were 
awaiting our landing on the shore. We proceeded 
with them to a tavern, where we remained until even- 
ing, and then, with a number of the citizens, renaired 



76 

by invitation to the house of Captain Crowninshield, 
where we were entertained in the most hospitable 
manner. 

Next morning we took the stage for Boston, and ar- 
rived there in time for dinner. We then called upon 
the paymaster, to have our accounts settled ; he told 
us he had no money, but he would give us due bills, 
and we could sell them to the brokers, which he did, 
informing us at the same time where we could get them 
cashed ; we were compelled, however, to allow a dis- 
count of twenty per cent.; as we had to pay our bor- 
rowed money, we had no other resource — some were 
forced to allow twenty-five per cent. I took some Phi- 
ladelphia paper, and when I went to pay my stage 
fare, they deducted five per cent more — thus, calcula- 
ting the ten per cent which we paid at Halifax for bor- 
rowed mone3% twenty per cent discount for cash at 
Boston, and five per cent deducted by the stage pro- 
prietor, made in all, an allowance of thirty five per 
cent which we were compelled to pay. Having at 
length settled our affairs, we proceeded homeward, ) 
passing through New-York and Philadelphia, in each 
of which places we remained a couple of days. We 
were compelled to hire horses at Harrisburg, as the 
stage went no further, and when we arrived at Carlisle, 
we were detained by the inhabitants, to partake of a 
dinner prepared for us at the Carlisle tavern— the next 
day I arrived home in Adams County. 



DESCRIPTION 

OF 

UPPER CANADA. 

i HE province of Upper Canada extends along 
the northern bank of the river St. Lawrence, the lakes 
Ontario and Erie, and the water communication from 
lake Superior, about seven hundred miles, and is five 
hundred miles wide, according to an imaginary line 
that divides it from New Britain on the north. The 
line that divides it from the lower province, begins in 
lat. 45, at lake Francisco, and takes a due north course 
to the Outtaways river, then up that river a north west 
direction to lake Tomiscauting, then due north to the 
line of New Britain. 

The upper province is divided from the United 
States by a line commencing some distance above the 
St. Regis village of Indians, situate about seventy-five 
miles below Ogdensburgh, and running through the 
centre of the St. Lawrence, to where lake Ontario be- 
gins, thence through the centre of it to the outlet of 
lake Erie, then through the centre of the outlet to the 
beginning of the said lake, then through the middle of 
it to the head, and so onward, passing through lakes 
St. Clair, Huron, Superior, and lake of the Woods; it 
then takes a south-westerly course to Red Lake, near 
the headwaters of the river Mississippi. 



78 

In the upper province there are no mountains, and 
but few hills of an}^ considerable height ; the country, 
however, is not of a clear level, but affords sufiicient 
eminences to render it agreeable to the e3^e, and con- 
venient for the building of water-works, &c. 

The sudden rise of ground dividing the waters of 
lake Erie from lake Ontario, towers in some places 
five hundred feet high, and almost perpendicular; in 
general, however, the height does not exceed two hun- 
dred feet, and the ascent is very gradual, with natural 
offsets about five hundred yards wide, upon which are 
situate plantations, and from which, especially those on 
the top, are most extensive and beautiful prospects ; 
the eye rests with admiration on the fertile plains be- 
low, and lake Ontario stands entirely exposed to ob- 
servation. Upon the top of this eminence, the coun- 
try is level, fertile and extremely beautiful ; nearly all 
the waters on the south side of the slope run into lake 
Erie, though there are but few that find their way 
through, affording excellent situations for the erection 
of mills or other buildings requiring water power. 

The soil of the province of Upper Canada is exceed- 
ingly good in ever}^ part, yet it is much the best in the 
upper part, west south west of the head of the bay Ouan- 
tie, around the north shore and head of lake Ontario, 
and the west side of Grand River, in the London Dis- 
trict. The lower part of the province is sand and clay 
mixed ; from the head of the bay Ouantie, to the head 
of lake Ontario, it is altogether a black light, rich 
mould in most places, seven inches deep, after which 
it is brown clay. On the Grand River, or Indian Land, 
and in the London District, the soil is sand, brown 
loam and clay. 

The timber of the lower part of the province is chiefly 
hemlock, birch and beech ; that of the middle part, beech, 



79 

sugar maple and white pine. On the west of the Grand 
River, the chief of the timber is white pine, ehn, bass, 
black walnut, and the different oaks, chestnut and the 
like — Indeed in this part of the province, may be found 
nearly all the varieties of the United States ; also, some 
of the trees of the Balm of Gilead ; one of a majestic 
appearance stands upon the main road, about twenty- 
five miles west of Niagara. In the lower part of the 
province, there is but little of any kind of wild fruit, 
but in the middle part there are several sorts, particu- 
larly whortleberries and rice. In the western part there 
is a great variety of wild fruits, viz.: cranberries, rasp- 
berries, grapes, blackberries, and wild potatoes; also, 
strawberries and plumbs of an excellent quality, and a 
great quantity of the very best crab apples, which are 
preserved by the inhabitants with the molasses of 
, pumpkins. 

I Considerable quantities of wheat are raised in the 
[ lower part of the province ; and in the middle part, 
wheat, rye, oats, peas, flax, hemp and corn. In the 
v/estern part, the product is wheat, which thrives much 
better here than in any other part ; r5^e, oats and corn, 
also come to great perfection, as likewise buck-wheat. 
All kinds of roots and vegetables flourish well in any 
part of the province, but especially in the west. 

All kinds of birds found in the United States are 
plenty ; here is also found a kind of bird, having the 
same motion and voice as the parakite, so plenty in the 
state of Kentucky — it differs, however, in colour, being 
grey, and is called by some, the frolic. Wild ducks 
are very plenty in all the lakes, as are also geese in all 
the lakes north of the settlements. 

There are seven lakes of considerable size, in the 
inhabited part of the province, and many parts of the 
wilderness. Lake Ontario is about two hundred and 



8o 

thirty miles long, from north-east to south-west, and 
eighty wide about the middle, being of an oval form ; 
it is exceeding deep and in most places appears to 
be without bottom, as there has been great length of 
cord let down without findinfr any. The water is very 
clear and cool at all times of the year, having the ap- 
pearance of a large spring. This lake never freezes, 
except near the shore, where it is shallow, nor does it 
freeze even there, except in ver}- severe weather, and 
then only for a ver)^ few weeks. 

The little lake, or Burlington bay, lies to the south- 
west of lake Ontario, and is divided from it by a cause- 
way five miles long, and in many places three hundred 
yards wide ; the surface of this causeway is completely 
level, of a light sand, matted over with grass, and 
beautifully decorated with groves of timber, chiefly 
oak, of a middle size, but of an endless variety of cu- 
rious forms ; some six feet in circumference at the butt, 
yet not more than twelve feet high, with extensive 
limbs, crooking and twining in all directions. A great 
number of these trees are entirely encircled with 
grape vines, and produce great quanties of grapes, of 
an excellent qualit)^ ; this lake is about twenty miles in 
circumference, and generally shallow. 

Near the head of ba)^ Ouantie, on the north side is 
a lake of considerable extent, named Hog lake, as also 
several others not far distant. About twenty miles 
west of the head of bay Ouantie, and fifteen miles 
north of the shore of lake Ontario, is situated what is 
called Rice lake, in consequence of the large quanti- 
ties of rice which grows in it. This lake is from three 
to nine miles wide, and thirty-six in length, though 
not ver\^ deep. Its course is from east to west ; the 
west end is not far from lake Simcoe, At the east 1 
end there is a fall of- eighteen feet perpendicular, in ' 



8i 

the form of a half moon. Below the falls, begins what 
is called the river Trent, which is tolerably large, and 
affords many falls fit for water works. It empties into 
the bay Ouantie at the head. This lake communicates 
with a chain of small lakes, called the Shallow lakes, 
which also afford rice, and extends near the north end 
of lake Simcoe. Lake Simcoe lies still west of Rice 
lake, and is something larger; it communicates with lake 
Huron to the south-west, by the river Severn. 

Lake Erie lies thirty miles distant from lake Ontario, 
and is three hundred miles long, and from twenty to 
forty miles wide. This lake is elevated about three 
hundred feet higher than lake Ontario, which causes 
the Falls of Niagara. The water, though pure, is not 
deep, nor is so safe for navigation as lake Ontario. 

The lake St. Clair is situate in a north-westerly 
course from lake Erie ; still further to the north-west 
is lake Huron, in lat. 42 ; it is one hundred miles in cir- 
cumference. From lake Huron to the straits of St. 
Mary, it is seventy miles to lake Superior, which is 
fifteen hundred miles in circumference, and lies be- 
tween forty-six and fifty degrees N. latitude, and be- 
tween eighty-four and ninety degrees west longitude 
from London. The island Royal, situate near the mid- 
dle of this lake is one hundred miles long, and forty 
wide. 

This province also contains many fine streams of wa- 
ter, the principal of which are the following: 

The Ottaways, or, as it is sometimes called, Grand 
River, is a large stream, rising out of lake Tomiscaut- 
ing, and running a south-easterly course, and empties 
itself in the St. Lawrence, above and below Montreal. 
The spring floods in the river rise in the month of June, 
or thereabout, and are often very destructive to the 
young crops. There is agreat variety of fish in this river. 



82 

The river Cananocqua is also a considerable stream, 
and empties into the St, Laurence a few miles below 
Kingston. 

There is a stream of some note, called Myre's 
creek, which is said to abound with fish ; the water is 
remarkably pure and clear; it empties into the bay 
Ouantie about fifty miles north of Kingston. 

The river Trent also empties into the head of bay 
Ouantie from Rice lake, is large, and contains a vari- 
ety of lish ; many hundred barrels of salmon are caught 
in this stream every fall. 

Duffer's creek is also a fine stream, emptying into 
lake Ontario, thirty miles north-east of York. 

The river Rush empties into the lake eighteen miles 
below York, and is navigable for boats twenty miles up. 

The river Credit, one of the best rivers in Canada 
for salmon, is tolerably large, and empties into lake 
Ontario about fifteen miles above York. 

The Sixteen mile creek empties into the lake a few 
miles further up, is large, and also well stocked with 
fish ; the Twelve mile creek empties itself about five 
miles further up, and is a beautiful stream. 

The Chippewa river runs into the Niagara river, three | 
miles above the falls ; what is called the Twenty mile 
creek, has its rise near the head of the Chippewa, and 
empties into lake Ontario sixteen miles west of Ni- 
agara. 

The Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Thirt}^ and Forty 
miles creeks all run into lake Ontario, rushing over the 
slope affording fine falls. 

The Grand river is a considerably large stream, of 
exceedingly clear water, rising from lake St. Clie, and 
is navigable for v^essels of a considerable size, for lift}'' 
miles from its mouth ; it empties into lake Erie, sixty 
miles from the east end, and contains many fine fish. 



83 

There is also the Thames, a large and beautiful ri- 
ver, rising near the head ot Grand river, and emptying 
about thirty miles above Sandwich into the head of 
lake Erie; there are, also, a number of fine streams 
running into lake Erie, such as Big creek, passing 
through Houghton and Middleton township, and Ket- 
tle and Otter creeks, in Middlesex county. 

There are not many villages in the province of Up- 
per Canada, of much note, the inhabitants finding their 
greatest advantage in agriculture, the land being very 
cheap and fertile. The following are a few of the most 
notable. 

CORNWALL is situate about one hundred and 
thirty miles down the river St. Lawrence, and is hand- 
some, but small. 

PRESCOTT is situate seventy miles below, stand- 
ing opposite to Ogdensburg, on the United States 
side; it is an inconsiderable place, and there is a fort 
and a garrison. 

BROCK VILLE lies twelve miles higher up the the ri- 
ver, and is handsomely situated, containing about 
eighty houses. 

KINGSTON stands a few miles below the head of 
the St. Lawrence, opposite to Wolf island, which is the 
means of forming a safe and commodious harbour. It 
contains about one hundred aud fifty houses, a court 
house, jail, and two houses for public worship. The 
fort in this place is temporary, and the cannon small. 
It is a place of considerable commerical business, and 
is rapidly increasing. 

YORK is situate one hundred and seventy miles 
south-west of Kingston, on the northern shore of lake 
Ontario, and is somewhat larger. It is laid out very 
much in the manner of Philadelphia, the streets inter- 
secting each other at right angles. It is the seat of 



84 

government, and contains some fine buildings, among 
which are a court-house, council house, and king's 
store house. The harbour is safe and beautiful, af- 
fording every convenience to shipping, and is so situ- 
ate, that while the water of the main lake is tossed like 
the waves of the sea, it. remains perfectly smooth and 
calm. 

NIAGARA is situate on the south side of the lake, 
almost opposite York, at the point of land formed by 
the junction of the outlets of lakes Erie and Ontario. 
It is a beautiful, prospective situation, being surround- 
ed on two sides by water, the lake on the north, and 
the Niagara river on the east, which affords a fine har- 
bour. There are many squares of ground in this vil- 
lage adorned with almost every species of rare fruit. 
It is a place of considerable business, and is inhabited 
by an industrious and intelligent people. 

OUEENSTOWN lies seven miles further up the 
Niagara. It is a small but handsome village ; the most 
of the houses are built of stone or brick, and are large 
and well finished. Here also is done considerable bu- 
siness, and there are some very wealthy residents. 

CHIPPEWA is situate ten miles above Oueens- 
ton, and two above the falls of Niagara, at the mouth of 
the Chippewa Creek. It contains some handsome 
buildings. 

FORT ERIE. There is a small village here of con- 
siderable beauty. — The inhabitants carr}'- on a consider- 
able traffic from the lake. 

TURKEY POINT is situated about sixty miles 
south-west of Fort Erie, on the Lake shore, in the dis- 
trict of London, a little north of Long Point. It stands 
in a beautiful situation, is surrounded by a fertile coun- 
try, and has a handsome court-house and jail. 



85 

PORT TALBERT lies sixty-four miles farther to 
the south-west, on the lake shore ; a town was laid out 
here in 1807, and bids fair for a considerable place. It 
has a line harbor for shipping. 

MALDEN, this fort and village is situate on the 
south-west end of lake Erie, fourteen miles south of 
Detroit. It is a pleasant, though not a large place, 
and the fort is a strong one. On the twenty-seventh 
of September, 1813, this fort was burned by the Brit- 
ish, on the approach of Harrison, previous to the bat- 
tle of Moravian Town. 

SANDWICH is situate still farther up the river, 
opposite Detroit, and is a handsome village of consid- 
erable age, inhabited chiefly by French. 

There are several other villages in the province not 
immediately situate upon the water, which are of con- 
siderable size and beauty, but those already named are 
the principal. 

The province of Upper Canada is divided into eight 
districts, twenty-four counties, and one hundred and 
fifty-six townships, generally about twelve miles square, 
these are subdivided into townships, and each town- 
ship into fourteen concessions, the whole of which 
make two thousand one hundred and eighty-four. 
These concessions are divided into twenty-four lots of 
two hundred acres each, the whole of which amounts 
to thirty-two thousand, four hundred and sixteen, 
which number multiplied by two hundred, will produce 
ten million, four hundred and eighty-three thousand, 
two hundred, the number of acres surveyed in the pro- 
vince, besides considerable called broken fronts, not 
yet surveyed, but granted to those who owned land in 
the rear thereof. Between every concession there are 
four roods left for the public roads, and also between 
every fourth lot, which is one quarter of a mile wide. 



86 

Amongst the curiosities of the province of Upper 
Canada, the Falls of Niagara stand conspicuous ; a de- 
scription of them, therefore, cannot fail to be highly 
interesting : — 

" In order to have a proper view of the Falls and the 
adjacent parts, I will suppose a person to be sailing in 
a little boat, out of Lake Ontario, up the Niagara riv- 
er, or outlet of Lake Erie. Soon after you leave the 
Lake, you pass the village of Niagara on the right hand, 
and Niagara old fort on the United States side. A little 
farther up you pass Fort George on the right— here 
the water is deep and smooth. You still sail on a due 
south course, the water being smooth and the banks 
about sixteen feet high, and in most places perpendic- 
ular for seven miles. Here you come to Oueenston 
on the right hand, and Lewiston on the left. This 
place is called the "landing," for here all the lading of 
vessels destined for the country, each side of Lake 
Erie and the Michigan territory are taken out, and con- 
ve)^ed up the mountain or slope, nine miles, to the still 
water, two miles above the Fall. The ascent of this 
slope, though three hundred feet high, is very easy. 
The river here is half a mile wide, and a little above 
there is a whirl of considerable depth, though not dan- 
gerous. After you pass this place three hundred yards, 
you enter the dismal chime, and instead of the lively 
prospect of the sailing of ships, with flying colors, 
fruitful fields, and pleasant landscapes, you are all at 
once buried in a grave, of at least three hundred feet 
deep. Although it is open in the top, should you look 
up, the sight is truly gloomy — the banks are perpendic- 
ular, and in some places more than perpendicular, 
abounding with craggy rocks, hanging over your head 
in a frightful manner; near the surface, there are to be 
seen fiat rocks, projecting towards each other in a hor- 



87 

izontal position. You still row on a south direction, 
with little variation ; the water is considerably rapid, 
and the banks have nearly the same appearance, until 
within about a mile of the cataract, where the banks 
are not quite so high ; but still all is gloomy, as you are 
buried from the sight of the land of the living, and 
must be filled with haunted thoughts of five hundred 
murdered dead,* that in one fatal hour plunged into 
the mighty grave, in which you now are. 

As you proceed, the water becomes very rapid, and 
at length the might}^ Falls appear in full, tremendous 
view, and lill the ear with dismal roar. It is eight 
miles from Queenston. When you arrive within three 
hundred 5^ards of the cataract, you must stop. Here 
the bed of the river widens, and is not sunk more than 
half of the distance below the surface, as it was at your 
first entrance of the chime. A view of the horizon is 
more extensive. In sitting in your little bark the above 
j distance, with your face to the south, before you flows 
the main body of water, and plunges over with a tre- 
mendous dash. About sixty yards of the middle of this 
cataract is much deeper than the rest, in consequence 
of a chime sunk in the rock. The water has a blueish 
green appearance. On your left hand comes the oth- 
er part of the river, not so large by a sixth part, and 
falls over also. 

This river is divided into two separate pitches, each 
four hundred yards in width. This division is made by 
a small island, crowding up to the verge of the rock, 
near the m.iddle. It extends half a mile up the stream, 
and terminates in a point, where the water divides to 
the right and left. 



■"Down tills dreadful chime, a number of American soldiers 
were driven headlong by the Indians, after they had surrendered 
themselves prisoners of war to the British, on the thirteenth of 
October, eighteen hundred and twelve. 



88 

The form of the cataract bends inward, or is nearly 
a semicircle. By the striking force of the falling wa- 
ter upon that below, wind is pressed under, which ris- 
es below in a foaming manner, though not to an}' heighth 
or violence. 

The lime stone rock on the United States side over 
which the water flows, shelves considerabl3% and leaves 
a large cavit)' between the base and falling column of 
water, and, were it not for the depression of air, a per- 
son might walk some distance in it without being wet. 

The mighty dash of so great a bod}^ of water on the 
bed below, raises a fog or small rain, which mounts up 
two thousand feet, in which, when the sun shines, may 
be seen a variety of beautiful rain-bows. This fog 
spreads to a considerable distance, and proves a fecun- 
dating moisture for the circumjacent woods and fields, 
the superior freshness and luxury of which are strik- 
ingly perceptible. This fog can be seen in clear wea- 
ther for fort)^ miles, particularly b}^ persons on the lakes, 
and often serves as a guide for sailing. 

In the winter this rain falling upon the neighboring 
trees, congeals in a thousand shapes, forming a roman- 
tic and pleasing appearance. 

About half a mile above the falls, what are called 
the rapids begin, and descend fifty feet to the cataract. 
The draft of this rapid is so great, that it often reaches 
ducks and geese, when they appear to be half a mile 
out of danger, and when once under the influence of 
the impetuous current, they cannot get on the wing 
again. Indians, with their canoes, have been known 
to be irresistably carried down the rapid, and have dis- 
appeared forever. 

Above the rapid, the river spreads to nearly three 
miles wide, and is shallow, with several small islands. 
The river now has a south-east course to Grand Is- 



89 

land, nine miles wide, and then south to lake Erie, 
where it is only a mile wide. This is twent}'' miles from 
the falls by water, from this place you may sail more 
than a thousand miles, if you wish, without encountering 
an}^ more falls. 

If my reader pleases, I will invite him back again to 
view and contemplate a little more, this awful scene. 
On both sides of the rapids, above the falls, the banks 
of the river are quite low; and there are many conve- 
nient situations for water works. Several are now 
erected, yet there is room for more. With a small ex- 
pense a large quantity of water can be brought in use 
to do great execution. 

The perpendicular pitch of this vast bod}'- of water 
is one hundred and forty-four feet, add to this fifty feet 
which the water descends, above the falls, and seven- 
ty feet below, and we find that the river descends in eight 
miles and a half, two hundred and sixty-four feet. 
Some who have never seen this river suppose it to be 
much less than it is, and others suppose it to be larger ; 
indeed it is hard for any one to judge with propriety, 
that has seen it, as there are but eight miles in the 
whole length of the river, between the two lakes, 
where any current can be seen, and that is very rapid. 

For the contemplation of the curious, who may, per- 
haps, never see these falls, I have made the following 
calculation, from which they may form some tolerable 
correct idea of the quantity of water that falls over 
this cataract. 

Say that each of the spaces, over which the water 
pitches, is four hundred yards wide, or twelve hundred 
feet; the most shallow one of these, or that on the Uni- 
ted States' side, is three feet deep on the verge of the 
rock, over which it falls. Now if we multiply its depth 
three feet, into its width, twelve hundred feet, we have 



90 

thirty-six hundred cubic, or sohd feet of water, on the 
verge of the precipice. As there are sixty-two pounds 
avoirdupoise, in a cubic or solid foot of water, and a 
little more, which we leave out to avoid fractions, so if 
we multiply sixty-two, the pounds in a square foot of 
water, by thirty-six hundred, the number of feet of wa- 
ter on the verge, we have, two hundred and twenty- 
three thousand, two pounds of water, on the verge of 
the precipice. But when we consider the laws of grav- 
ity respecting spouting fluids and falling bodies, we 
shall find the water of this cataract, receives a vast 
additional weight by the time it comes to the lowest 
point of fall. In order therefore to find this addition- 
al weight, we must note the following things : — " Hea- 
vy bodies near the surface of the earth, fall one foot 
the first quarter of a second, three feet the second, 
five the third, and seven feet in the fourth quarter; that 
is sixteen feet in the first second. Let go three bullets 
together, stop the first at one second, and it will hav'e 
fallen sixteen feet ; stop the next at the end of the se- 
cond second, it will have fallen, four times sixteen, or six- 
ty-four feet; stop the last at the end of the third second 
and the distance it will have fallen will be nine times 
sixteen or one hundred and forty-four feet, and so on. 
Now the momentum or force with which a falling body 
strikes, is equal to its weight multiplied by its velocity," 
and in order to find which we must multipl)" the per- 
pendicular space fallen through by sixty-four, and the 
square root of the product is the velocity required. — 
See Pike's Arithmetic, pages j62 and ^. 

From calculation, we find that the water of the cat- 
aract is three seconds descending the one hundred and 
forty-four feet, and that the velocity acquired in that 
time and distance to be ninety-six, which, if we multi- 
ply into two hundred and twenty-three thousand, the 



91 

number of pounds of water on the top of the roek, we 
find that twenty-one niilHons four hundred and twenty- 
seven thousand two hundred is the weight thereof, at 
the lowest point of fall — This is the weight of the wa- 
ter at the smallest part of the cataract, or that on the 
United States' side. The other part of the Falls, as has 
been noted, is at least six times as large ; that is, six 
times the quantity of water flows over. Now if we 
multiply the above sum, 21.427,200 by six, we shall 
have the enormous sum of 128,563,200 lbs. of water, 
which falls on the bed of the river below." 

About two miles above the Falls, there is a spring of 
water, whose vapour is highly inflammable, and is emit- 
ted, for a time, with a considerable degree of force. If 
gathered into a narrow compass, it will support combus- 
tion for twenty minutes, and is capable of communicat- 
ing to water, placed in a confined vessel and held over 
it, the degrees of boiling temperature. 

There is also, at some distance below the Falls, a 
large hole, called the Devil's Hole ; it is three hundred 
yards in circumference, and three hundred feet deep, 
with trees and craggy rocks sticking to the inner sur- 
face. There is supposed to be a considerable depth 
of water at the bottom. 

What is called the Mountain Lake, may also be termed 
one of the curiosities of this portion of country ; it is 
situated in Prince Edward County, on the shore, about 
thirty miles from Kingston, on the top of a mountain 
of about two hundred feet in height— it is three miles 
round, and, what is a curious circumstance, is well 
stocked with fish, although being in no manner con- 
nected with the bay or lake, except by a small stream 
that flows from it into the ba}^ by a perpendicular de- 
scent. 

There are also many other curiosities, which the lim- 



92 

its of this work will not allow of beinor noticed. Amone- 
these may be counted the Whirlpool, about three miles 
below the Falls, and four above Oueenston; as also 
the many falls in Twenty Mile Creek, which, like the 
Niagara, flows over the same mountain. One of these 
falls has a perpendicular descent of seventy-seven feet, 
and the water, after running for some time with great 
violence, falls over again, presenting to the admirer of 
nature a most imposing spectacle. 



DESCRIPTION 

OF 

LOWER CANADA. 



This province lies on both sides of the river St. 
Lawrence, between forty-five and fift)'-two degrees of 
north latitude, and sixt5'-one and eighty degrees west 
longitude, from Greenwich. It is bounded on the 
north by New-Britain, on the east by the gulf of the 
St. Lawrence, on the south east by New-Brunswick, 
the district of Maine, and New Hampshire : south by 
Vermont, and seventy-five miles of the state of New- 
York, viz : from lake Champlain to the St. Regis river, 
where it empties into the St. Lawrence ; and on the 
west by Upper Canada. 

Upon the north line it extends to a distance of six 
hundred and eighty-five miles ; its extent on the south 
line is nearly nine hundred miles, and measures in 
the middle about four hundred and fifty miles, run- 
ning narrower to each end, more especially to the 
north-eastern one. The dividing line between this 



93 

and the upper province, takes its commencement from 
the north side of lake St. Francis; it then pursues 
nearly a north course, running nearly twenty miles 
to the Ottawas river, which comes from the north-west, 
and falls into the St. Lawrence at Montreal, it then 
ascends that river to longitude eighty west, thence it 
takes a due north course to Charlton Island, about the 
middle of the south end of James' Bay, where it inter- 
sects the north line in north latitude fifty-two, and west 
longitude eighty. 

The climate of this province is any thing but pleas- 
ant, during the winter, which lasts six months, com- 
mencing in November and finishing in the latter end 
of April, there are continual falls of snow, which lie 
generally to the depth of from four to five feet. The 
mercury in the thermometer, in this province, has been 
known to freeze, and in sun:imer time it sometimes rises 
to ninety-six degrees; when, however the winter breaks 
up, the growth of vegetation is really surprising. Yet 
notwithstanding the intense heat of summer, and the 
rigor of winter, the inhabitants enjoy excellent health, 
and are vigorous and robust, carr3nng a strength, quite 
unusual to more southern climates, even to a very ad- 
vanced age. 

The ice on the rivers and lakes of Lower Canada 
generally acquires a thickness of two feet, and is ca- 
pable of sustaining almost any weight — that on the 
borders of the St. Lawrence sometimes exceeds six 
feet. 

As regards variety of soil the province of Lower Ca- 
nada can vie with almost any other; the traveller may 
be for many days delighted with the prospect of the 
most luxurious vegetation, and landscapes, improv- 
ed by art and industr}^ and in a transition which he 
feels to be almost sudden, finds himself surrounded on 



94 

all sides by barrenness and desolation, without one sol- 
itary object upon which the eye may rest with pleasure. 
On all the low banks of the St. Lawrence, the soil is 
good, as it is on the low grounds of other large rivers. 
Some of the vallies not situate on rivers afford excel- 
lent land ; it is generally of a black mould, mixed with 
a small portion of sand. On the higher grounds the 
soil is of a more sandy nature and is mixed slightly 
with blue clay. On the high hills and mountains, it is 
clay and gravel — lime-stone is found in great plenty, in 
many places of this province, and answers an excellent 
purpose. 

In the northern part of the province there are many 
very large and shallow ponds of water, abounding with 
animals of the fur kind, which in summer time become 
partly dried up, creating an unwholesome effluvia ; these 
if they were drained would make excellent meadow 
land, and many of them might be thus converted into 
good land at a ver}'- trifling expense. 

There are two sorts of pine in this province, the 
white and the red, which are excellent for the East In- 
dies ; four sorts of firs, two sorts of cedar and oak, the 
white and the red; the male and female maple; three 
sorts of ash trees, the free, the mongrel and the bastard ; 
three sorts of walnut trees, the hard, the soft, and the 
smooth; vast numbers of beech trees and white wood, 
white and red elms and poplars. The Indians hollow 
the red elms into canoes, some of which, made out of 
one piece, will contain twenty persons ; others are made 
of the bark, the different pieces of which the}^ sew to- 
gether, with the inner rind, and daub over the seams 
with pitch, or rather bituminous substance resembling 
pitch, to prevent their leaking. The ribs of these ca- 
noes are made of boughs of trees. In the hollow elms, 
the bears and wild cats take up their residence from 
November to April. 



95 

In every part of the province there are plenty of ever- 
greens, such as hemlock, cedar, firs, holly and laurel, 
with others. Many of these evergreens are loaded with 
an abundance of moss, which has a romantic appear- 
ance, and affords fine shelter for wild beasts and fowl, 
in the winter season. Here may be found large spots 
of ground under natural roofs, covered with dry leaves, 
while the snow is five feet deep on the surrounding 
parts, a circumstance extremely beneficial to the In- 
dians, and the animals of this cold region. To these 
places the Indians resort for hunting purposes, and here 
screened from the wind they lie down upon the dry 
leaves beside their fire and feel as comfortable as the 
rich farmer or merchant in his warm house. One who 
has never been at these places can form no correct idea 
of the great difference of the weather in these solitary 
retreats. 

There is also a great variety of wild fruit, particular- 
ly the crab-apple, potatoe, onion and cranberry. 

Near Quebec there has been found an excellent 
lead mine, and many valuable ones of iron, have also 
been discovered at different places. Some silver, it is 
said, has also been found in the mountains. There 
have also been found some coal mines, the coal from 
which burns well, and some of alum, copperas and 
clays, that paint quite well. 

Fifty miles from Quebec on the banks of the " Trois 
Rivieres,'' there is an excellent mine of iron ore, it lies 
horizontal, situate near the surface, and is composed 
of masses easily detached from each other, perforated, 
and the holes filled with ochre. It possesses softness 
and pliability, and for promoting its fusion a grey lime- 
stone, found in its vicinity is used. The hammered 
iron is soft and tenacious, and has the quality of not be- 
ing subject to rust. 



96 

The lakes of Lower Canada are numerous, though 
not large; a considerable number of which have no 
names; the first, however, of any note, is that of Black 
river, from which" the river has its source ; it lies in north 
latitude fift5'--one, and west longitude sixty-six, forty- 
eight, is of considerable depth, and about one hundred 
miles in circumference. 

Middle Lake lies about one hundred miles to the 
west of the former, is small, and is the source of Bus- 
tard river, which empties into the St. Lawrence, and 
passes through several lakes; also, a vast number of 
lakes are to be found in every direction from the lake. 

Lake St. John is situate about one hundred miles 
north of Quebec, and is about ninety miles in circum- 
ference. This lake is the source of the river Saquenay. 
Another considerable lake is also found, one hundred 
miles to the north-west, near the great chain of moun- 
tains: it is the source of Picksuagus river. 

Abbitib Lake is situate in latitude fortv-nine, and 
lonj^itude seventy-nine, and is the source of a lar<re riv- 
er of the same name, which runs into the south end of 
James' Bay. It is one hundred and ninety miles in 
circumference, t(jlerably shallow, and abounds with 
small islands. In the vicinit}^ of this lake are several 
more of less note. 

Lake Mistissiney is situated north of Quebec about 
two hundred and fifty miles, and is about three hun- 
dred miles in circuit, though a number of points of land 
extend into it a good distance from every direction. It 
is the source of Rupert's River, Vvdiich passes through 
some small lakes, on its way to James' Bay, a north- 
east course. 

Lake St. Charles is situate north of Quebec, and re- 
ceives and discharges the river St. Charles ; it is about 
five miles long. 



97 

Lake Megantic, lies south of Quebec, about ninety 
miles, and is the source of the river Chaudiere. 

Lake Calvier is small, and is situated a few miles 
above Ouebec. 

Lake St. Peter is formed by the expansion of the 
St. Laurence, to the breadth of twenty miles. It is 
one hundred and twelve miles from Ouebec. 

The lake of the Two Mountains, and the lake of St. 
Louis, are in the vicinity of Montreal ; the latter is 
formed by the junction of the Ottawas, with the St. 
Laurence. The lake of the Two Mountains is an ex- 
pansion of the Ottawas, ten miles above its mouth, 
and is twenty miles long, and three broad. 

The rivers of Lower Canada are very numerous, 
and chiefly run into the St. Laurence ; the most of 
them come from the north, and afford many romantic 
falls. 

In sailing up the gulf of St. Lawrence, the first riv- 
er of note which is seen, is the Motsic river ; about 
forty miles further up, we come to Machigabiou river : 
and in forty more, we come to Black river, already no- 
ted ; this river is three hundred miles long, and quite 
large, and falls into the St. Lawrence, some distance 
above the gulf. 

The next in course is Bustard river, about ten miles 
further up. This is one of the longest rivers of Low- 
er Canada. It falls into the St. Laurence in lat. 48.50, 
north, after running a course of at least four hundred 
miles. 

Betsainiites river, appears next in sailing up the St. 
Laurence. It is large, of considerable length, and 
passes through several lakes. 

Porfjius, is a river of some length, coming from two 
small lakes. It empties into the St. Laurence, fifty 
miles above. 



98 

Pepe C/iaisi?iagau river, succeeds in course, and falls 
into the St. Laurence, twenty miles above Portnus. 

In sailing up the St. Laurence, several small streams 
are seen; at length we come to St. James river ; and a 
little distance above, we come to the river Sagtie?iay, 
which rises out of lake St. John, already noted ; which 
lake is the repository of four considerable rivers, with 
their numerous branches, viz : those of the Picksuaga- 
nis, Chissotiematoii, Sable,, and Periboaca. In its course, 
the Saguenay receives the Missigiiijiipi, and several 
more of considerable size, after which, it falls into the 
St. Laurence, one hundred and fifty miles below Que- 
bec, from nearly a west direction. This river is one 
hundred and fifty miles in length, from the lake ; and 
sweeps along a prodigious quantity of water. It is in- 
terrupted in its course, by abrupt precipices, over which 
it dashes its foaming current ; and being bounded by 
banks of great elevation, is remarkable for the depth 
and impetuosity of its flood, which is sensibly felt in 
the St. Laurence, whose water is obliged to yield to 
its impulse for a distance of several miles. Large ves- 
sels, apparently going their course, have thereby been 
carried side-long in a different direction. 

This river, is generall)^ three miles wide, except at 
its mouth, where it is only one ; at which place, five 
hundred fathoms of line have been let down, without 
finding any bottom. Two miles up, it is one hundred 
and thirty-eight fathoms, and at sixty miles, it is sixty 
fathoms deep. 

Albany river succeeds next in course, which rises in 
a small lake, about sixty miles north from the St. Lau- 
rence, and flows through the fertile valley of Mal-bay. 
This river abounds with salmon and other excellent 
fish. 



99 

Montniorenci is the next considerable river, and falls 
into the St. Laurence, eifjht miles below Quebec, over 
a precipice of two hundred and forty-six feet. 

St. Charles, falls into the same close by Quebec, and 
is of considerable size. 

On the south side of the gulf and river St. Lau- 
rence, there are a number of streams, which fall into it, 
and take their rise in New Brunswick, New Hampshire 
and Vermont. 

The largest is the Chaiidiere river, rising out of lake 
Megantic, and flowing a north course, one hundred and 
thirty miles, falls into the St. Laurence about eight 
miles above Quebec. Ships sail some distance up this 
river. 

The river St. Nicholas, falls in on the same side of 
the St. Laurence, but a little higher up. Jacques Car- 
tier, a river of considerable size, falls into the St. Lau- 
rence, about thirty miles above Quebec. The stream 
of this, like all the rivers in Lower Canada, is fre- 
quently broken into cascades, affording picturesque 
scenery. 

The St. An?i, and Dog rivers, are streams of some 
note, and fall into the St. Laurence, from the north. 

Batisean river, also flows from the north, into the St. 
Laurence. Three Rivers, otherwise, called St. Maur- 
ice, falls into the St. Laurence, from the north, fifty 
miles above Quebec, by three mouths. It is three 
hundred miles long, and much navigated by the Indians, 
from the vicinity of Hudson bay. The tide of the 
St. Laurence flows no higher than the mouth of this 
riv^er. 

St. Reges river, rises in the state of New-York, and 
falls into the upper end of lake St. Francis, in lat. 45 
degrees. This is the last river of Lower Canada, which 
runs into the St. Laurence, from the south. 



lOO 



Ottawas river, is one of the largest in Upper Cana- 
da, except the St. Laurence, into which it falls below, 
and above Montreal, as has been noted. It is at least, 
one thousand miles long ; one of its branches, the 
Petite Riviere, rises out of lake Tomis-Cauting, and 
after meeting together four hundred miles from Mon- 
treal, receives a number of tributary streams on its 
way, and pitches over a number of precipices. 

All the riv^ers as yet described, run into the St. Lau- 
rence from the south or north ; there are several which 
run into James' bay, after running a western or north 
eastern course — viz. 

Slude river and Ruperfs river, which has a course of 
nearly two hundred miles ; and Harraconaw river, which 
empties into the south end of James' bay, and is a 
beautiful river. 

The river St. Lawrence is one of the greatest, and 
most beautiful rivers ; from its mouth to Montreal, the 
head of ship navigation, it is five hundred and forty-five 
miles : for one thousand more it is passed by very large 
boats, from here, for two hundred and forty miles, 
through lake Ontario, the largest vessels in the world 

may sail. 

The harbors in Lower Canada are numerous, chief- 
ly situate in the St. Laurence ; there are a few on lake 
Champlain, and two or three on the north-west coast 
of James' Bay. 

Fish, of which there is a great variety, is very plenty. 

There are but two cities in Lower Canada, Quebec 
and Montreal, (a description of these may be found in 
the memoirs.) 

Considering the great extent of Lov/er Canada, its 
villages are few in number, and small in size, chiefly 
lying on the banks of the St. Laurence. 



lOI 

The first of any note above Quebec, for there are 
none below, is Jennne Lorettc ; it Hes nine miles north 
west of Quebec, and contains fifty log houses, inhabit- 
ed by French and some Indians ; there is a decent 
chapel in this village. 

The village of Trots Rivieres, is situate on the north 
bank of the St. Laurence, extends three fourths of a 
mile long, and contains seventy houses and a church. 

Charleboiirc^ is situate eighty miles east of Lorettc, 
and is something larger. 

The village of Williavi Henry or Sorcl is agreeably 
situate at the confluence of the Sorel or Chambly riv- 
er with the St. Laurence, and contains a Protestant 
and Roman Catholic house for divine worship. 

Some distance above Sorel, is is situate Vercheres ; it 
contains about forty houses. 

Saiilt Saint Louis, is a small village of about one 
hundred and fifty houses, inhabited chiefly by the Iro- 
quois or Mohawk Indians. It is about sixteen miles 
above Montreal, and was originally built for those In- 
dians, who have long been converted to the christian re- 
ligion. It is chiefly built of stone. The church and 
dwelling of the missionaries are protected by a stone 
wall, in which there are loop holes for musquetry. 

Point aux Tre7nbles village is fifty-one miles from 
Quebec, contains one hundred and twenty houses, a 
small convent of nuns, and a neat church. 

The village of the Cedars is charmingly situated on 
the St. Laurence, not far above Montreal ; it contains 
about fifty houses. 

The Canasadago village of the Iroquois, a Mohawk, 
and Algonquin tribes of Indians, is situate on a de- 
lightful point of land on the hills, on the east side of 
the two mountains, in the Ottowas river. Near the 
extremity of the Point, their church is built, which di- 



102 

vides the village into two parts, forming a regular an- 
gle along the water side. It contains about two hun- 
dred houses, and two thousand live hundred souls. 

The province of Lower Canada is divided into three 
districts and twenty-one counties, viz : Gaspe, Corn- 
wallis, Devon, Hertford, Dorchester, Buckinghamshire, 
Richlieu, Bedford, Surrey, Kent, Huntington, York, 
Montreal, Effingham, Leinster, Warwick, St. Maurice, 
Hampshire, Quebec, Northumberland and Orleans. 
These counties are subdivided into parishes. 

The only natural curiosities worth naming in Lower 
Canada, are those cascades and water-falls with which 
the province abounds. 

The Bird Isles, which are situate in the gulf of St. 
Laurence, consist of two rocks elevated above the wa- 
ter, upwards of one hundred feet, their flattened sum- 
mits, whose circumference does not exceed three 
hundred yards, exhibit a resplendent whiteness, produ- 
ced by the quantities of ordure with which the}^ are 
covered, from immense flocks of birds, which, in sum- 
mer, take possession of the apertures in their perpen- 
dicular cliiTs, where they form their nests, and produce 
their young. When alarmed, they hover above the 
rocks, and overshadow their tops by their numbers. 
The abundance of their eggs afifords to the inhabitants 
of the neighboring coast, a material supply of food. 

Ninety miles up the Saguenay river, alread}^ noted, 
there is a fall of water, that deserves notice, chiefly on 
account of the immense sheet of water, which is per- 
perpetually broken in its rugged course, and assumes a 
resplendent whiteness. 

When viewed from below the scene is stupendous and 
terrific. The incessant and deafening roar of the waters 
and the violence with which they hasten to their des- 
cent, tend to produce on the mind of the spectator an 



103 

impression awfully grand. The picturesque and rude- 
ly wild forms of the lofty banks, exhibit a gloomy con- 
trast to the lively splendors of the cataract. 

Three hundred and thirty miles from the mouth of 
the St. Laurence is situate Cape Tourment, whose per- 
pendicular altitude is two thousand feet. It exhibits a 
grand and sublime view, especially to those sailing up 
the river. 

The cataract of the river Montmorencie, which 
empties into the St. Laurence, eight miles below 
Quebec, may be reckoned among the natural curiosi- 
ties of this country. The following description is in 
the words of Mr. Herriott : 

"After exhibiting a grateful variety throughout its 
course, the Montmorenci is precipitated in an almost 
perpendicular direction, over a rock of the height of 
two hundred and forty-six feet; falling, when it touches 
the rock, in white clouds of rolling foam; and under- 
neath, where it is propelled with uninterrupted gravita- 
tion, in numerous flakes, like wool or cotton, which are 
gradually protracted in their descent, until they are re- 
ceived in the boiling profound abyss below." 

"Viewed from the summit of the cliff, from whence 
they are thrown, the waters, with every concommitant 
circumstance, produce an effect equally grand, and 
wonderfully sublime. The prodigious depth of their 
descent, the brightness and volubility of their course, 
the swiftness of their movement through the air, and 
the loud and hollow noise emitted from the basin, 
swelling with incessant agitation, from the weight of 
the dashing waters, forcibly combine to attract the at- 
tention, and to impress with sentiments of grandeur 
and elevation, the mind of the spectator. The clouds 
of vapor arising and assuming the prismatic colors, 
contribute to enliven the scene. They fly off from the 



104 

fall, in the f.orm of a revolving sphere, emitting with 
velocity pointed flakes of spray, which spread in re- 
ceding, until intercepted by neighboring banks, or dis- 
solved in the atmosphere." 

"The breadth of the fall is one hundred feet; the ba- 
sin is bounded by steep cliffs, composed of grey lime 
slate, lying in inclined strata, which on the east and 
west sides, are sub-divided into innumerable thin shiv- 
ers, forming with the horizon an angle of forty-five de- 
grees, and containing between them fibrous gypsum, 
^ndi pierre a calumet, a soft stone of which the heads of 
pipes are sometimes formed, mouldering incessantly 
by exposure to the air, and the action of the weather ; 
no surface for vegetation remains upon these substan- 
ces." 

Eight miles from Quebec, the river Chaudiere emp- 
ties into the south side of St. Laurence ; and four miles 
from its mouth, there is a beautiful cataracf, which de- 
serves attention. 

The month of Ma)^ appears to be the most advan- 
tageous period, at which to contemplate this interes- 
ting scene, the approach to which ought first to be 
made, from the top of the banks ; as in emerging from 
the woods, it conducts at once to the summit of the 
cataract, where the objects which instantaneousl)^ be- 
come developed to the eye, strike the mind with sur- 
prise, and produce a powerful impression. 

"The water descends from a height of one hundred 
and twenty feet, and being separated by rocks, forms 
three separate cataracts ; the largest of which, is on the 
western side, and they unite in the basin, beneath their 
broken and agitated waters. The form of the rock 
forces a part of the water, into an oblique direction, 
and advances them beyond the line of the precipice. 
The cavities worn in the rocks, produce a pleasing va- 



105 

riety, and cause the descending waters to revolve with 
foaming fury, to whose whiteness the gloomy clififs pre- 
sent a strong opposition of color. The vapor from each 
division of the falls, quickly mounting through the air, 
bestows an enlivening beauty on the landscape. 

The wild diversity displayed by the banks of the 
stream, and the foliage of the overhanging woods, the 
brilliancy of colors richly contrasted, the rapidity of 
motion, the refulgent brightness of the cataracts, the 
deep and solemn sound, which they emit, and the va- 
rious cascades further down the river, unite in render- 
ing this such a pleasing exhibition of natural objects 
as few scenes can surpass." 

"On descending the side of the river, the landscape 
becomes considerably altered, and the falls appear to 
great advantage. Masses of rocks and elevated points 
of land, covered with trees, together with the smaller 
cascades on the stream, present a rich assemblage, 
terminated by the falls. The scenery, in proceeding 
down the river, is rugged and wild. 

" Viewed in the Winter season, the falls exhibit an 
appearance more curious than pleasing, being for the 
greatest part congealed, and the general form of the 
congealed masses, is that of a concretion of icicles, 
which resembles a cluster of pillars in Gothic architec- 
ture ; and may not improperly be compared to the pipes 
of an organ. The spray becomes likewise consolida- 
ted into three masses, or secretions of a cone, exter- 
nally convex, but concave toward the falls. The west 
side being usually the only place in which the waters 
flow; the aspect is infinitely inferior to that, displayed 
in Summer; and the sound emitted is comparatively 
faint. The surrounding objects, covered alike with 
snow, produce one uniform glare. The rocks and the 
bed of the river, disguised by unshapely white masses 



io6 

produce a reflection, which gives, even to the waters of 
the cataract, an apparent tinge of obscurity." 

In the midst of the low ground, near cape Tourment, 
a narrow hill, about a mile in length, and flatted on its 
summit, rises to the height of one hundred feet. Up- 
on the top is erected a large dwelling house, and a 
chapel ; and thither the ecclesiastics of the seminary of 
Quebec, to whom the land belongs, retire in the Sum- 
mer. 

There are many other curiosities in this province, 
which cannot here be described; those most remarkable, 
however, have already been noted. 

Almost all the inhabitants of Lower Canada, that 
have come to the years of maturity, are professors of 
religion — the great majority are of the Roman Catho- 
lic persuasion, for whose worship, some years back, 
there were one hundred and thirt)^ churches, seven 
convents, one hundred and ninety secular and regular 
priests, and one bishop. There were also sixteen cler- 
gymen of the church of England, and one bishop, 
besides some Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists and 
Quakers; all of whom enjoy freedom of conscience, un- 
molested. 

The Roman Catholic clergy of the province are dis- 
tinguished for their devotion, benevolence, and inoffen- 
sive conduct and humanity. They are regular and 
rigid in their religious ceremonies. 

In the year 1497, Lower Canada was discovered by 
John Cabot, a Venetian in the service of the English. 

In 1534, Jacques Cartier, a Frenchman, under 
commission of Frances I, explored the gulf of St. Law- 
rence, and the next year ascended the river, and win- 
tered at St. Croix, where he erected a wooden cross. 

In 1603, a patent for an exclusive trade was granted 
to Sieur de Monts, who employed Champlain to make 
further discoveries in Canada. 



107 

In 1608, Champlain sailed up the St. Laurence, as 
far as a strait, called b}'- the Indians Quebec, which is 
the mouth of Sorrell river, where, on the third of July, 
he began to build, and here passed the following Win- 
ter. At this time, the settlement of Canada commen- 
ced. 

In 1628, a company of rich merchants, one hundred 
and seven in number, was established by patent, for an 
exclusive trade. 

This company acquired a right of soil, in 1642 ; but 
their charter was revoked in 1663. 

In 1629, Quebec was taken by the English, under 
Sir David Keith ; and surrendered to the French by 
the treaty of St. Germain. 

In 1690, Sir \Vm. Phipps, with an armament from 
Boston, made an unsuccessful attack upon Quebec. 

On September 13, 1759, an English army under Gen. 
Wolfe, made a successful attack upon Quebec, which 
surrendered on the i8th. 

In 1760, the whole province of Canada surrendered 
to Gen. Amherst, and was confirmed to Great-Britain 
by the treaty of 1763, under whose dominions it has 
since continued. 



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